Halfdemon havoc
by stuntbutt
Summary: this a story of Naruto a fox halfdemon and follows him and his friend's journey out a hell and into the world. lemons in later chapters. contains violence and strong languge. NarutxHinata and OCxOC. please read and review
1. Chapter 1

Exodus 

This is my first multi chapter story and will take me a while to complete. Once again a big thank you and a big hug to everyone who has read and reviewed my other Fics. I really like all the reviews there so nice. I will try to wipe out spelling mistakes bad grammar (although the above sentence is wrong according to word. Bastard software).

I will be very grateful for ideas for my fic, mostly on the subject of where to go with the story, different techniques for Naruto and my OC Fenris, the more creative the better and anything else that people would like to see it this one.

There will be a greater amount of swearing, violence, blood and possible gore (but very little of women deaths, don't ask me I just hate it when women get killed. Although I might have a few female deaths just not very violent) than other fics. And lemons later on in the story. Pairing that are defiantly happening Naruto and Hinata, Fenris with another OC.

A brief summery of the story. Naruto is a half fox demon with power over fire and heat, while Fenris is a half wolf demon with the power of lightning and electricity. The first few chapters, possible about 6 or 7, of this fic are about their escape from hell (or demon realm) into the world and what they decide to do next.

I hope you like this one as much as my others. All feed back, positive and negative, will be greatly appreciated. Warning, I am a wrestling nut/fan and currently a blue belt in Ju-jitsu so it is very likely that Fenris and Naruto will be using some techniques I know and wrestling moves (flying pile drivers are too cool). Don't worry I wont go over board with the wrestling.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but Fenris is mine. If you want to use him just ask.

cough cough … MWUAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH……heh

(This is now a stander of mine :)

Prologue

While it is common knowledge that ninjas are organized into hidden villages and most operate with a certain amount of assistance from others, it is uncommon knowledge that some the world's demons are organized in the same fashion. It was shortly after the creation of the shinobi villages that the demon nobility saw that if they were to continue as they were, a lose assortment of demon warlords constantly fighting against each other for power and territory, they would quickly be wiped out by the more organized ninjas. It was decided by the most powerful demon lords that they should unite in larger numbers. It was now that the Undercities were formed.

The Undercities could be view as a vile perversion of the hidden villages, accepting missions from the demon nobles, mostly for the killing of powerful humans or opposing demon lords; but they are unique in the way they are run, though very rarely cooperating with other Undercitites preferring to compete against each other. Run under rules of violence and power only the most useful and powerful demons are trained in the Undercities.

A lot of demons are not allowed join live in an Undercity, this is why demons still come in to contact with humans in random encounters ranging from fights to friend ship and love. This gave birth to humans, mostly prominent clans, forming alliances and singing contracts with powerful demons, be they benevolent or malevolent towards humans. This is how humans have the ability to summon creatures to aid them in battle and some clans were given specials powers that could be passed down the generations.

This is how the most powerful bloodline abilities can be used by humans of the same family most notable are the Byukugan and Sharingan used by the two great clans of Konoha which were giving to them after signing contracts with demons. Another situation that occurred from humans and demons living in the same world was the interbreeding between the two. Although some of these unions are brought together in love, despite great differences, the offspring know as half-demons are often hated and feared. It is not uncommon for half-demons to grow up alone in the world, often the parents would leave them or have died, finding that no one would take them in or show them any form of friend ship. Half-demons are seen as a mongrel race by most demons over the world and are often killed on sight. The Undercities do not even consider accepting and training half-demons.

The most powerful demons have the right to progresses in power and status to become a High demon or possible an Arch Demon lord and rule an Undercity with the help of a council of clan elders. The training is brutal and deadly but it breeds an elite unit of demons capable of making most humans tremble at the very thought of them.

Not every High demon will join an Underity. While the Undercities offered sanctuary and a chance to increase their power to most demons, at a great price, some of the most powerful demons, most notable the great nine tailed Kuuybi that was later defeated by a Kage ninja, refused to ally them selves with any Undercity continuing of there centuries of destruction. It was these demons and those who were not part of an Undercity, called "wild demons" that humans came into contact with most often causing the belief that all demons are mindless agents of chaos and destruction. This gave rise to a number of humans that strived to wipe out demons from the world be them evil or good. Fearing these powerful beings the Undercities decided to make the bastions of evil hard to find using complex illusions and the use of teleportation devices, that were kept under strict lock and key, to enter and leave an Undercity .It is the an location of an Undercity that is most closely guarded secret of any city, less the become targets for their enemies such as the pure Mikos, holy monks, righteous hunters, fanatical exterminators, shadowy ninjas and, the most feared by all demons, the Guardians.

It was with the increasing risk of wars with the other Undercities and the ever resilient humans that the Arch Demon lord of the Undercity of the Fang decided that they needed a group of warriors that they could afford to lose but were still useful in achieving the cities goals. It was with this in mind that he degreed that half-demons could become part of the fang. The half-demons were draw into the cities with promise of respect, equality and power of which very few received from humans and other demon. Unknown to the half-demon they would be damned to be the lowest of the low and subject to hatred, scorn even great then when they live outside a city and were given dreadful living condition, scraps of food and would be sent on the most dangerous missions. Any half-demon that joined the fang were put in restraint collars and immediately put to work as fighting slaves.

There is not a single half-demon that dose not regret believing the promises of the Undercity demon rulers. Most lose any hope of freedom in the first few weeks after the collars are put on and reserve them selves to death during a mission. But there some half-demons that refuse to accepted this and strive for freedom and a chance to live as they want. But often lose their lives in ill planed escape attempts, while there are others that take their time and wait for the right moment to implement their escape.

It was shortly after the uncelebrated thirteenth birthday of one Uzumaki Naruto, a half-fox demon, that he put his escape plan into action.

End of prologue

The fire roared around Naruto as he tensely sat in lotus position, his eyes focused intently on a thick burn covered training post. Sweat dripped down his furrowed brow as he brought his hands together, compressing a vivid crimson sphere of energy between them as the surrounding flames rose up in intensity and height. Naruto's eyes bore into the middle of the post with a look of boiling hatred as he shot his right arm out in a fist with his index and middle finger extended. A small blade of fire formed and split from the small inferno on the floor in front of him and shot towards the middle of the post. It dug in to the post, scorching the surrounding wood, before fizzling out leaving behind a smoking, charred gash in the wood.

Naruto sighed. He still was unable to pierce completely through the wood using the 'Burning Dagger Technique' he had been practicing for the last five hours. The post in his small dark room was covered in dozens of black cut marks from his failed attempts to hit the wall behind the post. The flames around him waned and died down leaving a ring of smoking, blackened stone on the hard floor. Naruto stood up and walked to examine the post further to see how far his attack had got through. Upon closer inspection, his last shot had been the deepest, slicing in about six inches. It was his best yet but the post was thirty inches thick. If he was in a fight the mediocre attack would had cost him his life. Naruto was so close to perfecting the technique, designed to pierce through armor and other objects, which full blooded demons found an easy attack to utilize.

Naruto cast his mind back to what his coarse voiced, horned sensei had told him about using the attack. It all had to do with hate. 'Dead again, runt. How many times must I tell a pathetic Halfling like you how to do a simple technique? Think about what makes you the angriest and picture it on your target, then aim to shoot the small burning blade through it. Now do it again or you'll not be feed for a week '.

No matter how hard he tried he could not focus his hate enough to penetrate his target, which often earned a swift clip round his head from his sensei's staff when he failed numerous times in the training pits. His blood began to boil as he remembered the brutal training and sparse instructing that he and the other half-demons received from the many instructors that constantly reminded them that they were all ways going to be beneath them no matter how hard they tried and fought.

If the old bastard wanted anger Naruto would give him anger. He turned away from the training post and stomped across his tiny living quarters towards his sink and mirror. Naruto gripped the crumbling basin as his scowled at his reflection trying to recall all the things that had ever made him angry. He took small note in his long red-brown fox ears and two swishing tails of the same colour, that marked him as a half breed. Half demon, half human, damned to hated and rejected by both species alike. Naruto bore his fags as he remembered the only reason he was still alive was that the Arch Demon lord he severed had use of him and the other half-demons in the Under city of the Fang.

They were there to die. It was their job to go on the most mission that were not worth a true demon's time but still had a high chance of death. To save on the loses of valuable man power that could be used to fight the other Unddercities, the Arch Demon lord gave the missions Naruto and his brethren, who were deceived into servitude with promises of acceptance and respect. But in reality they were the preverbal canaries. After being lured into the Undercity of the Fang, cold steel collars were clamped around their necks and could be used to cause vast amounts of pain and even death to them at the whim of their commander. With the restraints in place they under went brutal training but were not allowed to learn any techniques used by their betters, only learning low class attacks.

Naruto was one of the lucky ones. Some half-demons were attuned to an element or power, passed down in their blood from one of their parents that gave them an edge in battle. With his ability to create and wield fire Naruto was able to survive more missions than those half-demons who only had increased physical strength. The Arch Demon lord saw that the few that could use unique powers, much like full blooded demon, decided that they would receive training in basic energy manipulation, so their powers could be more useful to the Fang. While Naruto and few others grew in power it was enough for them to gain the recognition of their vile lords.

Even with the towering odds of poor training and ludicrously dangerous missions, some of the half-demons trained hard and fought with pride, with hopes of escaping their infernal imprisonment. Seeing the threat that arose from a group of resilient half-demons, the council elders sent them on increasingly dangerous missions in an attempt to thin their numbers all the while manipulating some of the more vicious Halflings to cause friction among the group, so that the chances of the group unifying complete reduced. The council's plans were proving successful. There had been close to a hundred half breeds in the Undercity of the Fang, now there were thirty five.

The porcelain began to crack under Naruto's grip as he recalled the last mission they went on. They were sent into a stinking marsh to eliminate a group of "wild" beetle Demons that were encroaching on one of the human villages that had foolishly singed a devil's contract with the Fang for prosperous crops. The Beetle demons themselves were of little concerned to Naruto, having personal incinerated a large number of them. What did concern him and the others was when a Bone serpent rose up from the swamp and attacked. Bone serpents were a grand undead class of enemies that sought to snuff out life in any shape or form. The fight was long and ugly; many of the half-demons were cut down and devoured by the undead monstrosity. After they managed to fell the beast, by pulling out its rotten heart, the weary warriors marched back to their underground home compelled by the collars, no doubt to be berated for a sloppy mission, which they could not have planed for, and confinement to their tiny rooms.

Naruto looked around the room that he had called home for the last ten years. Its stone walls were bare, he had a moldy old bed in the corner and a woodworm infested table that wobbled when he sat down at it. Aside from these and the sink and mirror the only other objects in the room were a wardrobe, that contained his cloths, and a number of training post that he was ordered to use when ever he was not training in the pits or on a suicide mission.

Naruto looked back at his reflection and silently mused about how he looked and what made him stand out to humans and demons alike. His hair was blonde, spiky and all ways messy, his eyes were deep blue which he thought he must have got from his human parent. He looked at the six strange whisker marks on his cheeks and wondered about what purpose they severed. He then looked at his long red-brown fox ears. He smiled as her remembered all the times his heightened hearing had saved on missions. He also thought they made him look kind of cute, from a human point of view. He then looked at the rest of himself. He was thirteen years of age but looked slightly older from the look of his muscles, having removed his shirt while training with fire, which had been developed from ten years of training. His two long tails were the last thing he though about. They were the same colour as his ears and were very useful as tools and weapons, allowing him to grip objects or smash an opponent when they were not expecting it.

His thoughts were rudely interrupted as a large drop of filthy water landed on his forehead. Naruto looked up and saw that his ceiling was leaking again. Naruto then began to remember, again all the things that made him angry. The missions, his cruel sensei, his crappy living quarters, the Arch Demon lord, the haltered he received, his fate his life that some one else had damned him to live, the tournament!

Naruto was shaking with fury at this point as his hands burst in to flames, scorching the sink that he heal in a tight grip. His eyes looked straight into his reflections as a large fanged grin briefly appeared on the mirror before vanishing. Naruto had no idea what the disembodied smile was, or who it belonged to, but for some reason made him snap.

With a primal yell, Naruto let go of the sink, turned and pointed his right index and middle fingers at the training post again. Another blade of fire shot from his fingers again but this time it was indecent white from the heat and moved a lot fast, crossing the room in what almost a blink of an eye leaving a wispy trail of smoke lingering in the air. The burning dagger slammed into the battered post and sliced through it, setting it a blaze before digging in to the wall behind it. The top of the post flew up into the air from the sear force of the attack. Naruto, with his faced twisted into a snarl, opened up his hand and shot five more blades into the fly remains of the post. They all hit and reduced the post top into burning splinters and ash.

Naruto breathed a sigh of relive after finally using the 'Burring Dagger' so effectively. He would need it and all his other abilities and tricks if he was going to live to see tomorrow.

Naruto's door burst open, slamming in too the wall, to reveal a light purple skinned demon. He was about a head taller than Naruto with thin long gnarled fingers, a cruel withered old face with cold yellow emotionless eye devoid of any warmth. Two long twisting horns protruded from head point straight to the ceiling, Naruto always thought they made him look like some freakish goat but he never said it. He had a bald head except for a long grey ring of hair at the sides. He had a long hooked nose, point yellow teeth and a long thin beard the same colour of his beard starting from his chin and ending at his waist. The Demon wore a long dark brown that just stopped before the floor and had twisting symbols going across the top of the shoulders and down the arms. This was Naruto's demonic sensei Onaga, a man in all the years of teaching Naruto had never showed him any kindness or respect often hitting Naruto around the head with his staff that was essentially a gnarled length of wood with a thick tip at the top that he used as a club.

Onaga's hands rested on his staff that came up to his middle and observed Naruto's room, completely ignoring the fox half-demon, with a great amount of distain. His eyes briefly settled on the remains of the training post before looking at Naruto.

"Get dressed runt, it's time for the finally match. You'd better win and make me look good or I'll turn your skin into a new suit and wear you tails a scarf." Naruto knew from experience that Onaga was not one to take lightly. Although he looked frail and weak he was one of the most powerful demons in the Fang and was the instructor in demon power manipulation, like Nartuo's fire.

"Yes sensei" replied Naruto trying to keep his voice neutral while holding back his hate for the old demon. He walked over to his wardrobe and took out an orange top, that matched his trousers, and a long grey coat with metal elbow pads attached to the arms. He donned the orange top completing his vibrant outfit before attaching metal grieves and forearm guards covered in row of dozens of tiny scratches. He then out on his coat, which was slightly ragged, and slid on some black leather fingerless gloves.

The coat was made of a special material that was able to absorb some damage caused by demon powers or chakra but only if the attack hit them directly. Naruto and a few of the other half-demons had acquired these coats after a mission and were allowed to keep them but they could not take them to the village armor smith, so if they were destroyed they would be with out any protection what so ever.

The last two items he put on were a pair of simple black shoes and his head armor. The head armor was just a piece of metal that covered his forehead and went down the sides of his face curving into a points just bellow his whisker marked cheeks. In the center of it was the Fang's symbol, a vertical line with two smaller lines pointing diagonally in, one an each side. The head armor gave no protection it was to identify him as part of the fang and as a half-demon.

Naruto turned back to his loathsome sensei who jerked his head towards the door and walked out. Naruto left his room and followed his sensei as they walked down a dimly lit stone grey corridor. Naruto stared at Onaga's back thinking about how much of a misery this old demon had made his life. He began musing that all it would take to rid him of this vile being was to move quickly and grab his long horns and twist sharply, breaking his neck. Naruto imagined how the sweet sound of his neck vertebra breaking when Onaga thrust his staff to one side towards the wall. Naruto felt an invisible force pick him up and slam him against the wall. It held him there, continually pushing him into the wall as his feet dangled above the ground.

"Runt, don't ever think that you'll ever be able to kill me. I don't have to be physic to read you boy" said Onaga with his back still to Naruto. "I could end your miserable life anytime I wanted." And with this Naruto felt as though a great powerful hand was pinning him up while another had grabbed his rib cage and was slowly pulling it out of his chest. Naruto screamed in pain as his chest heaved. It could not end like this; to escape Naruto had to do something he hated.

"Please Sensei stop" cried Naruto. He hated having to beg for anything especially this demon but it would be all for nothing if he died here. Onaga lowered his staff and Naruto fell to the floor in a crumpled heap.

"It would be pointless to kill you now; you still have some use to me. Beside if the win the tournament you might be allowed to become a full demon" Onaga said coldly as he resumed walking down the corridor. Naruto picked him self up and followed his sensei again mentally curing the old bastard. They turned a corner that lead towards a large pair of iron doors with a ray ruddy light piercing thought the gap down the middle.

"Win this tournament or else runt." Threatened Onaga as he left up a flight of stairs, which lead off in the wall,

Naruto was then alone with his thoughts as company. The tournament was announced three weeks ago and was exclusively for the half-demons. The Arch Demon lord declared that the half-demons were to engage each other in one on one combat against each other in a stadium before the entire Undercity, the prize to the winner, if there was one, was that they would under go a ritual that would make them a full demon. Naruto knew better, the tournament was not to give the half-demons a chance at equality but to drive a wedge between them all breaking any chance of unity in to pieces and squashing any risk of open revolt against the demon lords.

Naruto never believed that most the half-demons he had fought with, shoulder to shoulder against huge odds on many occasions, had turn so quickly on each other for a chance at power. There were only a few of them that remained loyal to each other, one even refusing to fight against any of his kin. He was promptly executed before their eyes in the most horrific and painful way conceivable. It was at this point that they decided on another course of action.

Naruto fought the urge to vomit as he remembered the dreadful event and thought about the up coming fight. His opponent was the only friend he had ever knew and was also reluctant to fight but when they were told if they did not fight the others would be slaughtered, true they were now hated by the rest of the half-demons for defeating them they could not let them all be murdered. Naruto and his opponent then promised each other that they would give it their all in their fight. They were often called the strongest half-demons in the fang and they had wanting to find out who was the strongest for a long time. Despite the situation, Naruto could feel himself shake with excitement at the thought of a good fight and smiled a large foxy grin showing his fangs to the darkness.

The smile dropped from his face as the doors in front of him opened with a loud grating moan. The doors opened to reveal an insanely large arena, big enough to hold a small war with out running out of space. It was a large oval shape with cast iron doors at the ends. Its walls were about as high as a house and curved in wards with long thick iron bars thrusting that stopped most of the projectile attack that went astray during the fight from hitting the audience. There was a gigantic domed roof that enclosed the arena and the stone seats, which were currently occupied by a mass of demons of different shapes and size all baying for half-demon blood. Four massive curved columns rose from edge of the seats and angled in each ending in a pointed talon of stone like massive claws were grasping the arena. Each claw had a thick steel chain leading out of the point and all connected in the center in a net like shape, above the arena floor, holding in a massive yellow crystal that was large enough to hold a small village on top of it. The crystal was the only source of light in the underground arena, like a tiny sun bathing the whole area in a ruddy yellow light that caused huge shadows to be cast on the walls.

Naruto then looked at the arena floor its self. It was a mostly flat stone field covered in a thin layer of dust and dirt that had accumulated over the years. Rocks stuck out of the floor ranging from small head sized stone to massive outcrops. Some of the rocks had formed in a number of unusual shapes such as overhangs, flat tops and a great numbers of arches grew out of the rock. The rocks were there to provide cover for the combatants, also adding more excitement to for the crowd as they watch a deadly game of cat and mouse.

(Basically it's a under ground coliseum with a few added extras)

Naruto's eyes settled on the figure at the other end of the arena. The figure started to walk towards the centre of the arena as Naruto calmly did the same. At the centre they stopped, a good ten feet away from each other, as Naruto's opponent gave a confident grin. Naruto returned the grin as he looked at his opponent and closest friend, the storm wolf Fenris.

Fenris was slightly taller than Naruto and had wider shoulders. Long shaggy black hair fell down his back while two locks fell down the sides of his face in front of his ears. His hair was pretty normal apart form the electric blue lock that streaked from the center in an unbroken line. Two long grey wolf ears framed the side of his head matching his long shaggy wolf tail that sprouted from just below his spine. Fenris had sharper features than Naruto by still had a boyish look about. His eyes, like Naruto's, were blue but instead of being the deep ocean blue his were a piercing electric blue. He wore the same head amour and control collar as Naruto except his head armor did not reach down the sides of his face but it did have a long pointed nose guard with the Fang's symbol in the center of the forehead. He wore a long grey coat Naruto but had a three metal studded belt wrapped round the bicep of his right arm. A black t-shirt could be seen from the gap of his open coat that showed that Fenris had a greater amount of upper body muscle than Naruto. An outline of a snarling wolf's head was etched onto the t-shirt in bright white lines.

Fenris wore black trousers with metal knee pads and shin guards attached to the legs. His outfit was completed by the pair of black boots with metal plates bolted to the top of the toes and feet.

They both looked at each other with identical grins on their face as, from a private box in the stadium, the Arch Demon lord stood up and address the crowd.

"Demons of the fang, today we witness…"

"Fire fox, Naruto; how've you been?" said Fenris in a friendly tone.

"Fine, you?" replied Naruto. At this distance no one in the arena could hear the conversation between the two half-demon friends.

"Ok but I'll feel better after we finish all the shit that's going to happen today. Responded Fenris as he looked around the arena.

Naruto spotted the other half demons in the crowd, who looked at him and Fenris with undisguised hate as the Arch demon continued his speech.

"Your sensei threaten to kill you if you lose as well Fenris?"

"Yep. The bastrads don't care if we did today just as long they can gain any more influence so they can become the Arch demon of this cesspit."

"Well I'm not going to lose to you. I'm going to fight you with all I have."

"Same here. This place isn't going to be my grave" Their smiles widened even more as they waited for the fight to begin.

"May the best man win" said Fenris

"May the best man win" said Naruto. They both bowed shortly to each other. They shifted around restlessly as the Arch demons speech drew to a close.

"When's old cunt custard going to finish?" asked Fenris irritable as electricity arched between his fingers before he bunched them into fists.

"Hopefully soon" said Naruto as small jets of flame shot from between his teeth as his smile became more like a smirk as Fenris and him self took their fighting stances.

Naruto took a wide stance with his left arm starched out in front of him while his right arm was out to the side and slightly higher than his head. His hands open to allow him to use his claws and spinning kicks to the best effect while Fenris stood with his left arm and foot out in front with his right arm pulled in against his side. His left foot was raised on to the ball and his arm was out bent in position to block a high or low attack.

(Standard left ju-jitsu stance. My personal favorite)

They stared each other down as Naruto mentally weighed up the factors in his head. He was smaller than Fenris, and while Fenris was not slow Naruto had a slight speed advantage over him. While he preferred to use fast claw strike and kicks, Fenris favored using crushing strikes with fists, palms, and elbows but was also likely to throw in some claw strikes as well to close the distance between him and his target. Naruto also made a note not to let Fenris get a tight grip on any part of him as he was likely to grab on not let go which would be a very bad situation as Fenris like to grapple and throws his opponents. Naruto favored using unusual fast attack to keep his opponents of balance. Then there were the half-demon powers that were surely going to be used.

"Combatants, FIGHT!" cried the Arch demon

Naruto and Fenris charged at each other. Naruto swung his right hand in an attempt to slice Fenris's face. Fenris block the attack with his left arm then slammed his fore arm in to Naruto's chest forcing him back. Naruto placed one hand on the ground behind him twisted round, balanced on one arm, and thrust his feet into Fenris's chest. Fenris flew backwards in the air before flipping over to land on his feet. He charged at Naruto, ducking down low beneath Naruto's guard before jumping up and landing a monstrous upper cut to Naruto's chin, propelling him into the air. As Naruto soared backwards Fenris grabbed one of his ankles and swung him into a tall thin rock near by. Naruto grunted in pain as his side smashed in to the rock before the out crop exploded in a mass of dust and small rock fragments.

Fenris, continuing the swing, pulled up on Naruto's leg causing to be lifted higher into the air as he brought his open hand down towards Naruto's midsection. Naruto blocked the hand and grabbed the wrist with both hands. He then brought his free foot in to line with Fenris's face. Naruto ploughed his it into Fenris's face making him let go of his leg. While in mid air Naruto used his tails to kick of the ground so, still holding his wrist, he was now directly above Fenris. Naruto smashed both his feet into Fenris's shoulders making the wolf half-demon crash down onto his back with a grunt.

On his descent Naruto pointed his elbow at Fenris's chest attempting to slam it into the wolf half-demon's ribs. Fenris quickly rolled out of the way and jumped to his feet as Naruto landed on all fours to stop him self from crashing elbow first into the floor. Naruto stood up and saw Fenris coming to wards him.

With a feral howl Fenris slammed his left knee in to Naruto's gut while he grabbed his right bicep and grasped His back with his right arm. Fenris twisted round so that his back was facing Naruto and swung his right leg straight back. Naruto lifted of the ground and twisted in mid air all the while Fenris kept a tight grip of him and guided him towards the floor. Fenris's tucked both his legs under him in mid air and landed on his knees as he used the momentum and his shoulders to drive Naruto's head and back in to the hard stone floor.

(Ju-jitsu throw. Sweeping loin, my version.)

Naruto screamed in pain as his head felt like it was full of sloshing water. Not wanting Fenris to have time to put a lock on, Naruto jammed his left thumb below Fenris' nose on the pressure point located there and forces his head back. Fenris growled as Naruto brought his left leg up and hooked it around Fenris's head and forced his down towards the floors, trapping it between his other leg applying a choke while pressing his knee into Fenris's neck. Fenris stuck his thumbs into the nerves on the inside of Naruto's leg and pushed up, freeing him self from the choke. Fenris jumped to his feet only to feel Naruto hand on his shoulder as the fire fox used him as a base to jump up and land in front on him. Fenris barley had time to put his guard up as Naruto unleashed a ferocious flurry of kicks and punches at Fenris upper body. After pummeling Fenris defense down, so that his arms hung by his sides, Naruto jumped into the air and kick Fenris squarely in the chest with his feet in a devastating drop kick.

The kick propelled Fenris violently backwards through several rocks that stuck out of the ground before smashing into a large flat sided rock making a crater in the side and kicking up a cloud of derby that obscured him from view. Naruto carefully moved to wards were Fenris had stopped.

Fenris flew out of the dusty smoke and smashed his right fist into Naruto's gut. Grabbing his right bicep in his left hand Fenris proceeded to repeatedly pummel Naruto head with his right forearm and elbow before clamping his right and around Naruto's throat. He lifted Naruto up with one arm and slammed his back and head down on to the floor. (Choke slam) Still with his hand around his neck Fenris lifted Naruto up again and threw him in to the air slightly. As Naruto fell back to the ground Fenris twisted around and slammed his left elbow into Naruto sending him flying back rolling across the floor. Naruto rolled on to his feet and took his fighting stance and face Fenris who was in his.

They were both covered in numerous scratches from being ploughed through some of the many rocks that filled the arena. Fenris was bleeding heavily form the nose from the nose where Naruto had kicked him and a small trickled of blood dripped out of the corner of his mouth. Fenris's breathing was labor evidence of the after effects of Naruto's kicks.

Naruto was also finding breathing hard. The contact with the rocks and Fenris's elbows strike had cracked at least one of his ribs but he could already feel his half-demon healing powers repairing some of the damage. Naruto felt something warm rundown the left side of his face figuring that Fenris had made him bleed above his left eye. They were about even in the amount of damage they had caused to each other.

A wide grin spread across Naruto's face.

"Enough of the warm ups. How about we get serious?" said Naruto. He clicked his fingers; suddenly his feet and hand were covers in blazing flames that made the shadows dance around him giving him sinister and deadly appearance.

"I agree. IT'S SHOWTIME." Shouted Fenris as his hand and feet, similar to Naruto's, were covered in electricity that sparked and crackled in the air emitting a bright blue light.

"Burning slash!" Roared Naruto as he whipped his right hand out in a wide arch, sending out five thin curved blades of searing fire through the air towards Fenris.

"Surging slash!" howled Fenris as he brought his right hand up in a large swipe sending out five thin crescents of writhing electricity matching Naruto's attack.

The two attacks met in mid air exploding in a mass of blinding light tearing up the ground around the impact. As the light faded Naruto and Fenris charged again at each other with burning feet and claws. They parried and ducked under each others feral attacks as they swung their claws at each other lightly slashing and cutting their arms and face as fire and lighting danced around them. Naruto brought his arms down in a burning double strike, aiming for the sides of Fenris neck. Fenris brought his arms up on the inside of Naruto's attack and knocked away his arms sending electricity painful in to Naruto's arms. Fenris head butted Naruto making his head snap back from the force of the attack. Naruto could not see Fenris bring his arms to his side before thrusting his charged palms towards Naruto's chest.

Sending two spikes of lightning trough his hands Fenris sent Naruto flying as the electricity burned and ripped his clothing. As Naruto hit the ground Fenris grinned broadly until he smelt a burning smell from between his feet. He looked down and saw that the ground and rocks in about a foot around him glowed red as smoke rose from the rocks

"Crafty beggar" said Fenris in and impressed tone. He jumped backwards just as the ground he was standing on exploded in a mass of fire and dust. Fenris escaped with just a few cuts and burns from Naruto trap but the shockwave caused to skid back painful on the rough arena floor before he stopped against a large stone.

Naruto got up in time to see Fenris jump away form his Burning coals trap and go skidding back wards before coming to a stop against a rock. Seizing the opportunity the flames engulfing Naruto's hand grew bright as he held two balls of fire in his hands. Naruto jumped to his feet and hurled one of his fire balls towards the downed Fenris. Fenris rolled quickly to the side on to his front and pushed up into the air, jumping over the fireball that was streaking through the air towards were he lying before. The rock exploded as Fenris started running around the outside of Naruto diving and weaving behind the many rocks that provided cover, as the fire fox continued to pelt the burning orbs at him, trying to make some distance to find suitable cover to plan his next move.

The area that Fenris had ran through had been reduced to a smoking waste as Naruto tried his best to keep the wolf half-demon off balance before he could launch a counter attack. Fenris dived behind a huge rock just dodging a sizzling fire ball. This was not what Naruto wanted to happen. He could not afford to lose the advantage that he held. He formed two more fireballs and pushed them together in front of him making them form one large ball of fire. The ball rested in the air hovering in front of Naruto right palms as he grabbed his wrist with the other hand. He braced him self with his tails as he pumped more energy into the fireball making it grow in size and heat until it was about five foot wide in all directions and could easily engulf grown man. With a yell Naruto released his control over the great fire ball and sent it rocketing towards where Fenris hid. The ground cracked and sagged underneath the pressure and heat forming a shallow smoldering grove in the ground as the blazing orb slammed into its target.

There was a great explosion that ripped through rock and surrounding area blasting huge chucks of jagged burning rocks high into the air before they came crashing down. The sound of the explosion and the cheers of the crowd were deafening as Naruto looked at the cloud of smoke that rose from the crackling fire that he had created convinced that he had caused a great deal of damage to Fenris. Naruto stood looking at the smoke ready for what ever came out off it while remembering something he had said that Fenris instantly agreed on. Fire attacks create to much damn smoke. Naruto was sure that Fenris was going to use the smoke for cover and strained his ears ready to detect and head of any attack.

"Shocking blades!" shouted Fenris's voice as ten bright half moon shaped crescents of lightning cut through the smoke and flew towards Naruto. The blades of electricity passed through rocks as if they were made out of air as they drew closer to Naruto. Knowing he would not be able to dodge all of them Naruto thrust out his arms with his hands open and called.

"Burning daggers!" A searing hot dagger blade of fire shot from the tips of Naruto's fingers clashing with Fenris's attack as they met. Both attacks deflected each other and flew off to the sides slicing and destroying anything in their way before burying them selves in the ground and the thick arena walls. After saving himself from being shredded Naruto looked forward to find Fenris only to see that he was not were he thought he was.

Naruto felt something hot buzz past his fox ear scorching some of his spiky hair. He turned his side to see Fenris running towards him, who clothes were covered in smoking burn marks, hurling meter long blots of blue electricity at him. Naruto jumped into the sir to dodge as bolts shot towards him with tremendous speed and force, as if they were fired for a crossbow, and stabbed into the ground and surrounding rocks creating small smoking craters. Using his agility Naruto jumped and flipped back away from Fenris narrowly dodging the bolts as the storm wolf continued to advance forwards. Naruto miss timed a jump and a bolt shot past the inside of his leg cutting his thigh but shocking the muscle in his leg. Naruto fell to one knee in pain as he tried to stop his leg form shaking from the paralysis that racked his limb. There was a crackling sound and as Naruto looked up he saw that Fenris had come to a stop. The electricity now reached up to his right should and thin whips of lightning slashed at the air and ground as Fenris charged an attack.

"Jolt" said Fenris as he thrust his palm towards Naruto. A continuous stream of blue lightning shot towards Naruto at a blinding speed. Naruto hastily raised his Hands before him a cried.

"Fire shield!" The air in front of Naruto turned in to a small shield of flames just as the lightning struck. Naruto was pushed backwards as Fenris pushed more power into the attack trying to break Naruto's shield. The attacked stopped casing Naruto to grind to a halt but not lowering his shield. Naruto breathed a sigh of relief preparing to lower his defense ready to attack. Naruto howled in pain as something covered in electricity pierce his shield and cut his right shoulder before embedding its self in a rock. Naruto looked at had hit him. It was Fenris's head armor. He had obviously stopped his attack that was draining his energy and removed his head armor, charged and hurled it at his shield forming a penetrating attack.

Naruto looked up to see Fenris dash towards him and swing an electrified foot into Naruto's chin sending Naruto backwards. As he fell Naruto removed his head amour, and mimicking what Fenris had done, covered it in fire and threw it at the wolf half-demon. Fenris side stepped the attack but not enough to completely avoid it as it sliced his side as it flew past him causing the flesh to blister painfully and inflame.

Naruto sucked in a great lung full of air arching backwards before exhaling it sending of a roaring wave of fire that engulfed and burning everything in its path as it bore down on Fenris. Fenris focused his electricity on the tips of his index and middle fingers and swung his hand in a wide arch. A two inch thick glowing whip of electricity snapped out from his fingers as it cut through the fire wall that threatened to destroy him. He swung his whip in many directions effectively reducing Naruto's attack into a few harmless embers.

A fireball hurtled towards Fenris who just moved his head to the side avoiding a direct hit. Naruto dashed towards him and slashed his burning claws at his face. Fenris got his left arm up in time to block the attack but Naruto's claws cut his arm leaving huge gashes in it. Naruto snarled as he swung his other hand at Fenris's face. Fenris slammed his arm against Naruto's armored forearm grunting in pain as his flesh met metal. Fenris ploughed his right knee into Naruto middle bending to fire fox over. Fenris wrapped his right arm around Naruto's head in a head lock, sending electricity into him to keep distract from what was happening, as he gripped the top of his trousers with the other hand. He threw his legs forwards as he drove Naruto's head in to floor kicking his legs over as he went. (Rice bale throw/DDT) there was a sickening thud as Naruto's head hit the floor and blood flowed freely from a large cut on his forehead.

Naruto numbly felt his back hit the ground after his head had slammed into the floor. He instinctively realized what move Fenris was using. He had to get out of it! Fenris, still holding Naruto, rolled over to stand him and Naruto back up with the hold firmly in place. Before he was drove back into the floor Naruto snapped his arm into Fenris crotch. Fenris double over in pain, clutching his groin, as Naruto broke free from the hold and stood the side. Naruto rammed his knee into the chest of Fenris making him stand up screaming in pain. Naruto jumped up in the air and delivering a right jumping round house kick with a burning foot into Fenris face.

Fenris flew backwards slamming into the arena wall causing a net of crack to form behind him. Lightning crackled around him as he stood up.

"That was a good move Naruto. How use the fangs?" asked Fenris as he wiped the blood that flowed from his mouth.

"Ok then if you want to be ripped to shreds." said Naruto as a large foxy grin spread across his face.

They both jumped up high into the air.

"Shocking fang!" roared Fenris

"Burning fang!" Roared Naruto. They both span into air turning into twin whirlwinds of claws wreathed in lightning and fire. (Like Kiba's attack except with a fire and Lightning)

They shot towards each and collided in the air making fire and electricity flash were they met. They both span of into different directions cutting into the ground before turning around to smash into each other again. They proceeded to clash and fly from each other several times, carving teaches in the floor and shattering rock with the force of the fire and lighting, until they struck each other head on. The fire and Lightning mixed in sphere of destructive light before expanding in a huge expulsion of force. As the light faded the audience saw what had happened to the fighters.

Fenris stood up with Naruto's legs clamped around his waist in a vice like grip while he had his left arm behind Naruto's head and his right arm grabbing his left and applied a bar choke, they were covered in many scratches and burn but paid them no heed as they tried to stop each other from breathing. Naruto reached with his hand and attempted to break the lock as he tried to crush Fenris's sides. Naruto increased the heat of his fire on his hands and legs making Fenris scream in pain but he refused to release the choke. Fenris then sent a mass of electricity through his left hand into the back of Naruto's head making the blonde howl in agony.

This was getting them now where. They both almost had the same tolerance for pain and they would pass out from lack of air soon anyway thought Naruto. He had little hope of Fenris letting go, although the wolf half-demon was more strategic than Naruto he was incredible stubborn in a fight a live by the philosophy of 'why let go of a good lock?' Naruto unwrapped his burning legs and placed them just above Fenris's legs. Using the fire on his feet he pushed off, making Fenris break the hold, and somersaulted high into the air. Fenris stumble back placing his hands onto of the new burns as he glared at Naruto. Naruto grinned at Fenris as he began his descent to the ground. Using the fact that Fenris's mobility was lower Naruto pointed his hand, with closed fingers, like a spear head at the Strom wolf. "Burning dagger!" barked Naruto as a huge burning dagger, about the width of his hand, shot towards Fenris.

Fenris smirked as the attack cut towards him. Electricity shot from his feet all the way up his legs as he seemed to slide his feet to the side dodging the burning dagger as it penetrated the ground making a deep straight sided hole with flames belching from inside of it. Fenris pulled his right back and low down as he pumped more power into that hand.

"Shocking blade!" roared Fenris as he swung his arm out sending a huge spinning crescent of lightning at Naruto. The attack looked big enough to cut him in half. Naruto twisted and flipped in mid air just maneuvering himself over the attack it shot underneath him and flew across the arena slicing half way through the iron bars, which were designed to block attacks that went a stray, leaving an orange glowing rent in the metal.

Naruto landed just in time to have Fenris administer a right electrified side kick to his chin. The force was unbelievable, Naruto was sent through the air once more and crashed into the iron bars that Fenris's attack had hit. Normal Naruto would have pain hit the bars and slid back into the arena but because of Fenris's 'Burning blade' Naruto carried on through the bars as they snapped of, leaving stumpy metal pole where they once stood, and landed in the seats. Naruto found him self being given a wide birth from the demons as they cheered for more blood and violence.

Naruto got to his feet and saw Fenris standing, with a huge grin despite the amount of injuries he had received, on the remains of the section of bars holding on to one the cut bars that had not fallen. There was a horrible sound of twisting metal as Fenris pull and turned the bar he was holding and tore it free holding it in both hand. Seeing what was about to happen, Naruto quickly grabbed one of the bars that had fallen beside him and raised it above his head as Fenris jumped from his perch and brought his pole swing down in the direction of Naruto's head.

The two rods clanged together as Naruto stopped Fenris's attack. Still with their metal staffs pressed against each other Naruto stood up and looked Fenris in the face. Blood covered his face like some sort of hideous mask but what made it even more chilling that the wolf half-demon had a feral grin plastered across his face. Naruto looked him in the eyes and smiled back. Naruto pushed Fenris away and took a ready stance as Fenris, who had recovered from his push, assumed a similar stance. They stood looking at each other as Naruto metal staff began to glow white while white wisps of smoke raised its length. Fenris's staff then stared to crackle as electricity ran un and down it and arched when it reached the tip.

They swung their staffs at each other as the demonic crowd edge backwards to give them more room to fight. The two rods meet with a ferocious clash as sparks of lightning and fire flew off were they met. Naruto and Fenris battled each other with their weapons using wide swings, low sweeps, fast stabs and powerful over head strikes all the while sending bright sparks flying in the air as they blocked and parried each other's strikes. Although neither of them had landed a hit on the other yet Naruto was being push back towards one of the four columns by Fenris, who brought his greater upper body strength to bear. Not wanting to get pinned up against a hard object Naruto bent his legs and jumped over Fenris turning in the air to face him as he turned round.

Fenris watch Naruto perform this amazing display of acrobatics simple waited for the right moment and swung his staff with all his might at Naruto as he go neared to the floor. Naruto raised his staff in both hand to block the attack but the enormous force of it flung straight through gap in the fence, over the entire arena floor , over the opposite sides fence and back first into one of the column. Needless to say ever one was shocked by this display of strength from a half-demon, even Fenris but he did not show it.

Naruto got up, shaking form the impact, and looked at Fenris. An unspoken agreement past between the two of them, as they dropped their iron staffs and quickly clawed their way up the columns behind them on to the thick chains above. They ran along the chain, taking every chance they took to throw fire and lightning at each other, as they came closer to the great glowing crystal that hung above the arena. As they set foot on the ruddy yellow stone, Naruto and Fenris lunged at each other. Their fists met in the middle of the crystal in a blazing light of fire and lightning until they both jumped back panting heavily. Fenris growled at Naruto as he ran at him and swung his leg out at him. Naruto ducked the attack only to have Fenris carry the kick on and bring the heel of his other foot into his face making Naruto stumble back.

Fenris then shoulder tackled Naruto sending him back, about twenty feet from the edge of the stone. Fenris threw a right punch at Naruto only to have him grab his in both of his twist round and fling Fenris over his back making the wolf half-demon slide dangerous close to edge and the huge drop beneath them. Fenris sprang to his feet and saw Naruto charge towards him with his fist at his side ready to hit him. When Naruto threw his punch Fenris side stepped the attack and clamped his right hand around the back of Naruto's head and twisted around to face the edge and chuck Naruto head first off the crystal. (Shades of Mankind vs. Undertake hell in a cell)

The crowd cheered as Naruto plummeted towards the ground. Tears streamed from his eyes as he saw the floor coming towards him, he was going to land directly in the middle of the fire he had made with his giant fireball. His fire! Naruto twisted so that his back now faced the ground and he saw Fenris looking over the edge of the crystal at him. Perfect. Focusing on the fire below his Naruto summoned up a huge pillar of fire that raced up and hit the fire fox in the back. Naruto did not fall through the fire as is slowed his falls down to the ground. Naruto whipped his arms forwards and send two smoking balls of fire, summoned form the inferno below, at Fenris. The two balls hit the section of crystal beneath Fenris giving way and making the Storm wolf fall as well.

Fenris stuck his left arm out towards the crystal and lines of lightning jumped from the crystal and into him. Naruto was performing a similar feat as they fell. Naruto called up some of the fire from the below and hand it gather in front of his out stretched hands which were aimed at Fenris. The lightning ran across Fenris shoulders into his right arm which was now glowing with bright white electricity as it crackled and jumped around him. He pointed his hand at Naruto.

"Fire blast!" bellowed Naruto as he sent a massive tongue of explosive fire, that seemed to scorch the air its self, towards Fenris.

"Grand lightning!" shouted Fenris as he sent a massive lighting bolt, that arched and cracked the air, towards Naruto.

The two attacks crashed into each other in a huge explosion, a great deal larger than any of the others before it, that filled the arena with a blinding light that made most of the demons present cover shield their eyes with their hands and arms.

Onaga and Fenris's sensei sat in the Arch Demon lords box watching in shock as their lowly half-demon charges utilize powerful attacks that they were never taught or allowed to learn. Their thoughts were interrupted by an emotionless voice.

"How is it that two half-demons can use such powerful attacks even thought it was my clear orders that were not to learn anything like them?" Onaga and his companion turn round to look into the cold stare of the Fang's Arch Demon lord. A chill ran down their spines as he turned slightly to one of his guards. "I want those two dissected after the fight had concluded. I want to know how then can wield such power that should be beyond them."

Naruto and Fenris hit the ground hard in crumpled heaps. After painfully pulling them selves up they looked at each other across the arena, which by now had great chunks ripped out of it and as covered in burns and holes caused by fire and lightning. Naruto's breathing was raged and strained and he could Fenris was in the same condition. They were low on power and blood. It was time to end this.

"Fenris, let finish this with out next attacks." Naruto called to the battered wolf half-demon.

"It's time for the finale curtain" agreed Fenris with a grin. Naruto held his right arm to hid side with his hand out flat and fingers together. He poured all but the last amount of power into hi arm as Fenris did the same. His arm burst into fire raging all the way up to his shoulder and flaring off five feet into the air. The fire formed a deadly point an inch in front of his middle finger. Fenris had also done the same with lightning crackling around his arm. Pain racked Naruto's arm as he tried to contain the massive amount of power he was holding at the tip. Fenris was also suffering from the same problem when he spoke.

"Naruto, it's been fun, see you on the other side." Said Fenris in a cheerful voice.

"See you on the other side Fenris" replied Naruto. They charged at each other for the last time. The ground and few remaining rocks cracked and shattered as they brought their attacks forwards to strike. They leaped into the air as their left hands dived into their coats. They thrust their right hands at each other throats in an attempt to kill the other instantly. For the last time in the Undercity of the Fang a bright light, created from when fire and lightning met, blazed briefly into existence obscuring the two half-demons from the crowds view. When the light finally faded all that remain were two broken control collars that clanged on to the ground before resting on top each other in silent arena.

Chapter one end.

Holy shit. I seem to write more with each story. This one took along time to get done and it was only the first chapter. spoiler don't worry Fenris and Naruto are not dead. I will reveal what happened in the next chapter.

It is ten to two in the morning for me so I'm not reading though this. I would like to hear what you thought about this one. Especially the fight, was it to long boring, exiting, I want to hear. I would also love some suggestions for where to go with the story. I have to next few chapters planned out but if any comes up with anything good I will use it and give that person credit. I would like some suggestions for attack that Naruto and Fenris can use later on. Once again I have some ideas put input would be great.

If any one wants me two I will write a list of all the techniques used in this chapter with explanations and what I based them on.

I hope you like this one. Thank you for reading.

The sweeping loin is a hip throw done with sweeping the out side leg backwards. The thrower should remain standing after the throw. But I'm not very big and some times lose my balance doing this throw (mostly on my dad who is a black belt). What has happened is that I some how tuck both my legs under as I throw some one the result is the throw is wrong but I my shoulders are about 6 inches of the floor or mat when I do the throw making it hard to break fall from. Even thought it is incorrect I quite like the way I do it when I mess up (although don't actively try to do it this way) so that is why I called it "my version" in the story.

I won't tell you what a DDT is. ( watch some wrestling to find out) the rice bale throw is a throw from ju-jitsu that looks like a DDT but you kick your opponents legs over and not drive their head into the floor. For this story Fenris will use a modified version of these throws driving the head into the floor while kick the legs over so that he can keep hold and roll over to stand back up ready to do it again.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

That way. Part 1

A huge thank you to every one who read the first chapter and an even bigger thanks you to those who reviewed. In response to the reviews so far.

Dragon man180, Naruto and Fenris will be going to Konoha but it might take a while. There are a few things I want to have done and set up before they get there. I'm thinking having them arrive about a month before the Chuunin exam but they won't take part in the main Naruto story line until after the preliminaries. (I have something big planed for that.)

But these ideas are not set in stone. If anyone has an idea which you think is better tell me and I might use it and give credit to who ever came up with it. I would also like ideas for attacks for Naruto and Fenris to use.

To Subtle Sound of Serenity, Thank you very much for your suggestion of Naruto having a Katana but I think it has been his weapon too much (pulse he's going to have a huge Katana like the one Sephiroth uses in one of my later fanfics.) but if I can't think of a decent weapon for him in this one I'll use one of the ones you gave me. Both Naruto and Fenris are going to have special weapons. I'm giving Fenris a huge Hammer. And yes it is Fenris as in Fenrir the wolf of Midgard from Norse mythology. I needed a name to do with wolves or storms. That is another thing I would like help with.

spoiler ahead

Fenris is going to have a Wolf demon in sealed in side of him, just like Naruto and the Kuuybi(spelt right?) and this is were he gets his huge amount of power over Lighting. I need a name for this wolf Demon so could you all send in some suggestions.spoiler ends

Even though no one asked for it I will be writing a technique list at the ends of this chapter listing all the original techniques and skills that I've used so far and it will be used at the end of each chapter that features a new skill.

Anything in brackets ( ) is me just giving an explanation of something.

Thank you I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Fenris is mine though. If you would like to use him just ask and I'll gladly lend him out.

A one, two, three…. MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH. bow hehehe I love doing that.

Hatake Kakashi was pissed, and not in the way induced by consuming alcohol which he quite liked. No he was just plain angry with a great number of things. First was the mission that his team of Genin had completed. After a general complaint from the two male members of his team that the D-ranked mission they were given in correspondence with their Genin rank. After listening to their reasonable argument the Third Hokage relented and said that they could take a C-ranked mission. The mission was to escort an old master bridge builder to his home country of the Wave, an easy enough mission even for freshly promoted Genin. It was soon after that the mission did not seem so easy. Shortly after setting out they were ambushed by two missing-nin. Kakashi knew that they were there but he wanted to see what his team could do in a real combat situation especially the number one rookie Uchiha Sasuke. It was safe to say that Sasuke handled the two enemies, most of all how he disabled their razor chain weapon. Kakashi had to intervene in the end when the two missing-nin as they came very close to slashing the Uchiha with their envenomed claw gauntlets. After he defeated and restrained the two missing-nin he identified them as the Demon brothers.

Their client then admitted, after questioning, that a powerful business man named Gatouu was after his life because if he completed the Wave's bridge Gatouu's strangle hold of the country would weaken. Even though the mission was now at least a B-ranked they decided to carry on. They soon met the rest of the missing-nin hired by Gatouu the Demon of the mist Zabuza, a highly dangerous ninja that wielded a huge cleaver like sword that on many occasions came close to splitting Kakashi and his team in two, and a effeminate looking boy named Haku that was the sole survivor of an old clan that had the power to manipulate water in many ways with great ease.

During their first encounter with Zabuza his team showed an improved team work ability as them managed to rescue him from Zabuza's water prison. It was after this that Kakashi reveal his sole Sharingan and quickly defeated the Demon of the mist in combat. Haku then arrived just in time to attack Zabuza and make it seem as though he was dead long enough for him to taken back to their base. Kakashi soon fell to the ground exhausted for the fight and injury.

They rested at the bridge builder's house with his daughter and cry baby grandson. He then set about teaching his Genin students the finer points of chakra control. While the two boys took few days while the pink haired Haruno Sakura had completed the exercise the same day and spent the next few days accompanying their client as he went on his daily business. The finale battle came soon after Kakashi had fully recovered.

It was during the fight on the bridge that Kakashi witnessed one of the most disgusting acts he had ever seen. While he was dealing with Zabuza and his mist, Sasuke and the last member of his team were imprisoned in Haku's ice mirrors. Despite showing a good level of team work the third member of his team froze in fear in the presences of the strong foe. The coward got down on his knees and begged for his life and offered to join them and even took out a kunai and held it to Sasuke's throat. Both of the missing-nin were deeply sicken by this display of selfishness and instantly refused, swearing to kill him first. As he stood in shock Sasuke used the opportunity to hurl a kunai of his own at Haku striking him in the shoulder causing him to lose control of his mirrors. By now Zabuza had been caught by Kakashi's Nin dogs and was about to be killed by his lightning edge when Haku jumped in front of him and took the full force of the attack.

Gatouu soon arrived with a huge group of hired thugs confidently saying not that they were all weakened he was going to kill them all. Zabuza, highly distraught about losing Haku, told Kakashi that he was no longer his enemy and asked for a kunai. The copy Nin complied and tossed one to the Demon of the mist who caught in his mouth. What happened next was a great display of passion for a loved one and great skill as Zabuza fought his way through the many thugs, sustaining grave wounds, towards Gatouu before slicing the vile mans throat and throwing him of the bridge.

After using an army of Shadow clones to frighten away the rest of Gatouu's men; Kakashi walked over to the fallen Zabuza and listed to his finale words before laying him down next to Haku. When he passed away Kakashi then turned his attention to the wretch that had so quickly turned his back of his team mates. With a look of fury in his eyes, both normal and Sharingan, and with out saying a word he pulled of the scum's forehead protector and told him that he was not worthy of being a ninja.

The mission had really made Kakashi angry and it was not improving much on the return journey. They still had the coward with them; Kakashi did not even want to remember his name, as they had to get him back to Konoha to face punishment for his betrayal. It was early morning and the air was covered in thin mist that made Kakashi's cloths clammy and had made the pages of his book damp making it so he could not read it till it dried out. What really made him really cross, apart from having a coward in his team, was the fact that he felt a huge surge of energy in the area and it had woken him up form a very nice dream. He was not fully awake yet and the sound of a mix of laughing and howling somewhere near by really made his head hurt.

The copy Nin's attention snapped back to the here and now as he felt the presence of something big and powerful moving in the vicinity. It was not human. He ordered the two good members of his team to stay put and watch the traitor while he went grudgingly to investigate.

(This section was just to set up the rest of the chapter and what happened to team 7 since Naruto was not there. The guy who replaced Naruto is just a throw away character as I couldn't think of a background for him. I might write him back in later on)

The tranquility of a small mist covered field, bathed in the clear light of early morning, was shattered as huge sphere of blue light burst into existence, sending out arcs of energy that sliced and tore the grassy landscape. The sphere flickered and dimmed to reveal two boys with their faces twisted into fierce snarls as they stood perfectly still looking at each other as thin wisps of smoked rose of them and trailed into the morning air. They would have looked like normal people except if it was not for the numerous cuts, burns and blood that they were both covered in. Even more usual were the long ears that protruded from the sides of their heads and tails that sprouted out just below their spines. The features of one these boys resembled a fox while the other one resembled a wolf.

Naruto and Fenris stared into each others eyes as their right arms were stretched straight out, just centimeters to the sides of the others neck, with the hands pointed out like arrow heads. On the sides of each of their necks were angry red cuts that leaked out a small trickle of blood. The cuts, while painful, were not mortal wounds. In their lefts they each clutched one end of a craved wood stick, as thick as a mans arm, that held two perfectly round diamonds in the middle, one priceless stone on top of the other.

There was the sound of snickering as Naruto and Fernis's mouths curled up into broad smiles of victory. The snickering turned into chuckling as their right arms relaxed and they placed their hands on each others shoulders. Unable to restrain them selves any longer they both gave in at that point and burst into hysterical laughter as they fell to their knees onto the soggy ground, still holding the wooden object and clasping each others shoulders.

Naruto's body felt sore and tired but he never felt so alive. They were free. Somehow they had both managed to steal both halves of the same teleportation rod. Somehow they had timed their last attack to cause enough light and energy to cloak the activation of the teleportation rod, which was very risky with out knowing were you where going, and cut the vile control collars of at the same time which was also highly dangerous, they could have blown up or they could have missed resulting in either missing the collars completely or slashing each others throat. Somehow they had aliened the two halves of the teleportation device at the same time in the right way and sent them selves' hurtling through the void to land in a wonderfully wet field. Most people would hate to be where they were now but it felt as it was summer to Naruto. Somehow they had escaped right under the noses of all the demons in the Fang who by now thought they must be dead.

They let go of the wooden teleporter and sat down as their laughter faded from hysterical to breathless mirth. Naruto winced as his leg touched the ground. He looked down and saw the cut Fenris's bolt had made. They had not held back against each other during their fight and Naruto was slightly disappointed that they did not find out who was stronger but they could always fight another time. Naruto turned his attention to the joyful wolf half-demon, as his long shaggy black hair spread out in all directions unbound from his head armor, and though about the insane plan he had thought up for their escape which Naruto had so quickly agreed to help his best friend in implementing.

The entire escape plan had hinged on perfect timing and luck. When Fenris had told him the plan he had devised shortly after the tournament had been announced, and after their friend who had defied the Arch Demon lord was hideously killed, Naruto instantly jumped at the idea of escaping using the teleporters and suggested they make their escape during the final fight. When Fenris asked how he knew they were going to be in the final round Naruto simply gave a huge foxy smiled and said that there was no one else that could beat them in combat so they it was obvious they were going to be in the final fight.

Fenris also smiled at this point and chuckled at the idea of pulling of the biggest stunt they had ever done complimenting on Naruto idea that ever one would think they were dead. Naruto looked at Fenris confuse and said that he thought it would just be funny to do it that way. Fenris had just collapsed on the floor greatly amused by the fact that an idea thought for a prank would also provided an element that an expert strategist would have come up with.

Naruto panted as the cool air filled his lungs as they tried to get their breath back after an exhausting fight and laughing too hard. It felt so good to be breathing in fresh air and not the clammy dusty air he had to endure the last few years.

"We did it!, we did it!" cried Naruto as he fell back to lie on the ground.

"And those bastard don't even know what we did." Chuckled Fenris, who took in a deep breath before sighing happily. "But it won't take them too long once they find that are no remains. We best find some where to hide for a while."

"Eh? Why do we have to hide" asked Naruto who looked at the storm wolf confused. Fenris just looked back with a look of disbelief before giving out an exasperated sigh.

"We have to hide because as of this moment we are the only half-demons that have been in an Undercity and escape, so we'll have a hoard of pissed of demon lords that'll be tearing up this area looking for use so they can skin us alive. I don't think we want to be around for that."

"Oh. Ok" said Naruto as a huge grin spread across his face. Fenris smiled as well. It was hard for him to be miserable or angry around the blonde. He always had some way of making even the gloomiest situation seem bright.

"Plus we need supplies, as we have none, time to heal since we knocked the shit out of each other. It's best if we find the nearest village and see if we can get work for a while until its safe for use to move around. Also I haven't been to the theater in ages." Exclaimed the storm wolf as jumped up and grinned. Naruto was slightly worried now. Although Fenris was smarter than Naruto and came up with stratagems, he was not above acting like a goof ball.

"Ok already let's go, you ham." Said Naruto. Fenris span round and glared at Naruto. Naruto just chuckled; he knew that was the best way to get Fenris's attention.

"Who are you calling a ham, knucklehead?" asked Fenris. Naruto stopped laughing and shot to his feet glaring at Fenris. The two continued to stare each other down until Naruto's long fox ears heard something large heading in their direction at a great speed. Fenris growled angrily as his nose wrinkled, obviously he had caught the scent of what ever was coming their way.

(To give a bit of difference in their abilities, while their sense of hearing and smell are more sensitive than humans, Naruto has better hearing than Fenris letting he know where something is coming from, how big it is and how fast it is moving. Fenris had a better sense of smell so he can smell things at a distance and is a better tracker than Naruto)

They jumped back away from each other as a huge centipede came crashing through the trees, digging large holes in the ground with its legs, and charged to where the two half-demon where a few seconds ago before turning around at the other end of the field to look for it's challenging prey. Naruto landed on the ground a good ten feet away from he just was, just as Fenris did the same, and almost feel to his knees. The injuries from the fight were seriously hindering his combat ability especially the cut to his leg from Fenris's Lightning bolt. Naruto looked at the giant centipede that was turning the top half of its body side to side trying to decide to attack him or Fenris.

Despite the fact that the insect demon was about the length of redwood tree and the width of an ox, normally it would not have been a though opponent. Insect demons like this one, while strong, were clumsy, had thin carapace and were incredible stupid and easy to trick.

"And there we were us getting worried about a little bug." Mocked Naruto as he clicked his fingers to activate his flames. Nothing happened. He clicked several more times but all he got were a few orange sparks. "Damn, I haven't got enough energy for flames." He looked over to Fenris. "Fenris you got any electricity left?" Bellowed Naruto.

"Not enough to fry to this buggy bastard." Shouted back Fenris as he settled into his stance ready for the centipede's next attack. The centipede rose up and roared at the two half-demons, showing its large fang filled jaws that went side to side instead of up and down, and stampeded towards Naruto tossing earth to the sides as it went. As It came about five feet away from Naruto, he quickly side stepped its charge as it thundered past him. As it passed Naruto swung his razor sharp claws at the demons segmented skin. Naruto's eyes widened in shock as his claws bounced of the centipede's skin. That was impossible; a demon like this should not have armor so strong.

"What? That thing should be in shreds now." Exclaimed Naruto as the centipede had reached the end of the field and as turning around to make another charge. Fenris jumped fifteen feet in front of Naruto in a wide stance with his arms to the sides as if he was ready to grab something. Naruto instantly recognized what he was doing and got into his own lows stance, even thought his muscles screamed in protest, with his left hand out in front open while his right was stretched out behind him ready to cut the centipede.

The centipede dashed to wards them at a tremendous pace. Fenris shifted slightly to the side and grabbed the centipede just behind the head.

"Suplex…" shouted Fenris as he lifted the top half of the beast and stared to fall backwards lifting the rest of the centipede into the air.

"…Slice!" finished Naruto as he jumped into the air towards the falling centipede. The demon's back was arching exposing the soft flesh in between the segments of it incredibly thick amour. Naruto span in the air creating a spinning wheel of claws as he slashed thought the centipede making black foul smelling blood gush all over him. Naruto cut the centipede in half as Fenris slammed the squirming top half on to the ground with a great thud before twisting his arms and snapping the head of the beast which instantly stopped moving.

Naruto landed next to Fernis who had squatted down to get a closer look at the dead centipede.

"What you looking for?" Naruto asked as his eye watered from the smell of the demons blood that coated him.

"To try and figure out how demon like this had such strong carapace. I mean we've took down others like this one before with out this much trouble. Even without using our powers." Fenris turned his head to look at Naruto and wrinkled his nose. "You smell like a cesspit."

"So would you if you cut through a big ass bug!" shouted Naruto but Fenris had already turned his attention back to the 'big ass bug' looking for anything that suggested how it was so strong.

Naruto heard a rustle in the trees and whipped his head round to see what was making that noise as Fenris likewise looked to see what it was. At the edge of the tree line stood a man with spiky grey man stood with his hands in his pockets completely relaxed at the sigh that he saw. Most people would have freaked at seeing three demons, most people can not tell the difference between half-demons and full demons, but this man just stood there. He wore a half mask that covered his face and a forehead protector was pulled over his left eye. Fenris's eyes widen in a mix of shock and fear as he realized that this man was a ninja and his cloths identified him at least Chunnin level.

"Hmm? I must have been careless if you noticed me already." Said the ninja in a bored voice, still not moving from his position. Naruto look at the man and Fenris grew increasingly worried. They should have been able to detect him from further away, if he got this close with out them noticing he was a ninja of some skill. Naruto was about to say something when Fenris's left hand darted to the three studded belts on his right arm. He pulled the belts of and held them in the air like he was holding three dead snakes.

"Flash!" called Fernis as the belts writhed and cracked in the air as Fenris put the last of his electricity in to them. The belts suddenly emitted and bright white light filling the whole field with its blinding power. Fenris grabbed Naruto by the shoulder. "Move!" ordered the storm wolf as he dragged Naruto towards the trees at the opposite side of the field pausing just long enough to grab the teleportation device.

The light fade and Kakashi opened his eye to see where the half-demons had got to. All he saw was the remains giant centipede he had sensed earlier. He could have easily gone after the two half-demons, as he was trained to distinguish between different types of demon, but since it was not a mission and they did not seem to pose any threat he decided to go back to his team and the traitor. He pulled out a little orange book from his pocket and walked back to the camp.

"What was that for?" shouted Naruto. Fenris had left go of him but they were still running flat out through the trees to where ever Fernis was heading.

"That scarecrow looking guy was a ninja. A Chunnin at least." Fenris called back not stopping as he ran. "We don't know what he was there for and what village he was from. He could have been on a mission to kill demons in that area, plus he most likely had a team with him. So its best we leg it as we have barely any power and would be killed easily in a heart beat."

Naruto though that Fenris was just being paranoid. But then again if the ninja had been after them they would have been in serious trouble. Naruto then though why was it that Fernis was giving the orders?

"Hey who said you were in charge?" asked Naruto.

"I'm in charge because I'm smarter." Replied Fernis. He mentally laughed knowing that Naruto was close to blowing his top. It was true that Fenris's IQ was higher but not he did not consider himself better than Naruto, who could rather clever in his own rights. While they did compete against each other sometimes they never let their will to win grow to a point were it threaten their friendship, despite all the goading and insults. They just liked pushing each others buttons. Fenris could not resist one more preverbal poke. He was the first out of the tree line and landed on a rocky ledge that was bathed in the now bright afternoon sun.

"Man do you smell. You smell worse than a dead pig's arse."

"Damn you!" scream Naruto as he too burst out of the tree line and made a tackle at Fenris. The storm wolf dodged at the last second and Naruto went flying of the edge. He desperately tried to grab on to the edge with his tails but continued to fall. He landed with a splash in the water below. 'So this is what Fenris was heading towards' thought Naruto as he reached the surface of the water and glared at the now laughing wolf half-demon.

"Good idea Naruto. Maybe now you won't stink as bad." Fenris laughed again but it was cut off as he was soaked by a massive spray of water. He looked do and saw that Naruto had turned his back to him and used his two tails to kick up water at him. Naruto turned around and grinned broadly before sticking his tongue out. Fenris, now trying to get his hair out of his eyes, laughed again.

"That it you're going to get it" said Fenris in a cheery voice as he jumped in with all the intention of dunking Naruto under the water.

They had been walking for three days. After their injuries had healed and they were sure they had shaken off anyone was following them they had decided to take a long dust road to god knows where that followed a large river that flowed near by. Naruto was bounding along with Fenris walking close behind trying to calm his demeanor of calm and seriousness about him. It wasn't working; he was very close to letting his mask of control slip and act like a complete idiot just like Naruto. By now Naruto had got bored of just jumping and was now doing acrobatic flips along the path of the river laughing all the time flashing his trademark grin.

Fenris smiled and shook his head at his friend's hyperactive behavior. He then put his hands out and did a forward flip that took him high into the air. Naruto not wanting to be out done also did a forward flip but added a great number of twists and rotations. Soon a small competition had started between the two as they jumped and flipped their way along the road. They got more and more flamboyant as they stared to add fire and electricity to the jumps to make them more spectacular. They were lost in the moment, still not coming down from the excitement of being free. When they were in the Fang they had to march every where. This was the first time they had ever had fun as moved towards wherever they were going.

It was after they both executed a double jump, complete with amazing twists and turns highlighted by bright fire and Lightning, that they landed to gaze upon a huge cargo ship that had run aground against the rocky shore. As they got closer they could make out a name on the side of the ship.

"Gatouu industries" said Naruto as he read the side of the ship.

"Where have I heard that name before?" said Fenris to no one in particular. "Now I remember. Gatouu is some wealth business man who runs a shipping corporation."

"Really?" asked Naruto as his ears pricked up to try and listen for any signs of life of the ship. He found none.

"Yeah. He's also a class A scum bag who trades drugs and weapons. And he has also been known to take over countries using ninjas."

"How do you know all this?" asked Naruto wondering how his friend had got all this information.

"He had a devils contract with one the demon lords in the Fang for success in the businesses world. I won't be surprised if he tries to try and cheat his way out of it when he has to pay the price for his success." An evil grin spread across Naruto's face as he turned towards Fernis.

"You know what that means" said Naruto as he chuckled.

"Yeah. Let's ransack the thing for all that its worth!" said Fenris with an identical grin. Naruto laughed as he jumped towards the hull of the ship. He clicked his fingers and flames engulfed his right hand. He then focused the flames on his middle and index finger until the glowed with and orange energy. He pushed his fingers into the ship and slowly cut a line in the hull, sending sparks flying as he cut a large square in the side of the ship. (Think of it that he using his fingers like a blowtorch)

Using his tails he grabbed the cut square and tossed it away making it land with a loud clank. Naruto jumped in the ship with Fenris following. His eye could make very little out in the dark belly of the ship. The lights flicked into life illuminating the whole room. Naruto saw a mass of wooden cargo boxes hold untold spoils. He turned round to see what Fenris was doing.

The wolf-half demon had his hand on a power box with electricity arching from his hands. He drew his had away and slammed the door of the power box shut. But he used too much force and the door smashed on its frame then fell off. Naruto snorted. Although he was the one ability to wield fire, Fenris one the one who enjoyed breaking and blowing things up especially if what he was breaking belonged to scum like Gatouu. Naruto had to admit he enjoyed making the lives of scum miserable. But he sure that Fenris lived by the rule of 'when all else fails blow shit up' with he also found ironic.

"That should give us a few hours." Said Fenris as he made his way over to a crate and prized the lid of with his hands. Naruto turned to the crate nearest to him and also removed the lid. In side he found sets of green goggles. Taking a pair he donned them, placing them on his forehead, and turned to look at a mirror on the wall. He struck a pose and decided that he look damn good with the goggles on.

"Finally!" Fenris said happily. Naruto turned around and saw Fenris's hands drop from the side of his head. His long shaggy hair, which had recently been getting in the way, was now tied back in a long pony tail, which reached down between his shoulders, except for once lock of hair that he had left dangling on the right side of his face. Fenris was not above a certain amount of vanity. He put his had back into the box and pulled out several plain black hair bobbles and put them in his pocket. Naruto turned his attention to another crate. Inside he found an assortment of hats. He tried on several of them. After he tried on a black woolen balaclava he noticed Fenris was staring at him.

"Keep that. You'll need it" said Fenris as he looked through another crate.

"Why?" asked Naruto unsure what the wolf half-demon was getting at. Fenris stalked over to Naruto and flicked both his fox ears.

"Ouch" moaned Naruto as he rubbed his ears.

"To keep your ears covered so no can tell what we are." Said Fenris as he rummaged in the box looking for a suitable hat. Naruto, still rubbing the pain away, noticed Fenris long wolf tail. With a smirk he stepped on it. Fenris screamed and span to face the grinning Naruto.

"I can easily warp my tails around and hide them how are you going to do the same?" asked Naruto as he looked at the fuming storm wolf. Fenris resisted the urn to smack the fire fox as it was him that started it; instead he pulled out a long belt form an open crate. While Naruto's tails were very flexible, Fenris' tail was not a flexible as used more for balance when moving at high speeds. He raised his tail so it was up his back and concealed by his grey coat. He fastened the belt around him and secured his tail in place. He then found a fur hat that had long flaps down the side. (Think stereotypical Russian hat)

"There, we should be able to go into a village with out any problems at all." Said Fernis as he gave a twirl to show of his new attire.

"What are people going to say when they see us wearing hats and long coats all the time?" asked Naruto seeing a flaw in Fenris's plan for be incognito. Fenris stopped and thought for a second before smiling.

"They just think we have bad fashion sense." He cheerfully. Naruto thought about this for a second before also grinning. It was so simply yet effective.

After rummaging around the numerous crates they had found two canvas bags, various cloths including under wear, a map of the local area and bungee cord which Fenris stuffed in his bag.

"Hey Naruto don't you find it strange that the crew is missing yet they left behind the cargo?" asked Fenris ask he had just filled his canvas bag up with what he need and pulled the draw strings closed.

"Yeah but there is no sign of a fight" said Naruto as he looked around the room again. Their defiantly been no sign of a struggle. It looked like the whole crew had just up and left. After opening most of the crates Naruto found four at the back of the room that were chained shut. He broke the chain on one of them and prized the top off. Naruto jumped back with a snarl. Fenris walked over to see what had up set him only snarl himself as he caught the scent of the crates contents. He looked inside and found large bags of fine white powder along with several weapons and blueprints of goodness know what.

"If we ever find this Gatouu I'm going to beat him with in an inch of his life" growled Naruto as he found some disturbing documents of Gatouu plans to use children to harvest drugs for a reduced cost.

"Then I'll beat him the rest of the way to hell" responded Fenris in an equally feral growl.

"Let's burn this place so no one can use this filth"

"Yeah" said Fernis. They went about the ship and pierced the many pips and fuel lines in the wall and engine room making the foul smelling liquids gush all over the ship. They jumped out of the hole they had in come and walk away from the ship. A good distance away, far enough to make the ship seem small against the setting sun, Fenris and Naruto looked the ship before Naruto clicked his fingers on his right hand and put his middle fingers against his thumb. A small flame, like to one from a match, settled between his finger and thumb. He flicked the small flame towards the ship. It flew through the air like a dragon fly before it disappeared into the square hole in the side. Fire roared into life as the ship began to burn.

There was a huge flash or fire and the ship exploded in a massive fire ball that was top with a colossal cloud of black smoke that raised up form the inferno. Naruto and Fenris were blown back wards by the shock wave of the explosion. They sat up and looked as they sent a great amount of Gatouu's money up in smoke.

"A bit too much boom?" asked Naruto as he stood up.

"No I think it's just enough boom." said Fenris as he jumped to his feet and watched the ship burn.

"Im sure that you're a pyromaniac" accused Naruto. Fenris grinned even wider.

"Come on you enjoy it as well." Countered Fenris as he looked at Naruto who smiled and put his hands behind his head.

"Well…erm… come on lets not hang around hear. There's a whole world to see and adventures to be had!" Exclaimed Naruto as he punched the air and walked off down a path. Fenris once again shook his head and smiled as he followed the more hyperactive fire fox down the path.

Since they now wore clothes that hid their half-demon features Fernis and Naruto were able to use the many roads of the country side in the open with out fear of being attacked of shunned. Fortunately it was getting close to winter so on one would question why they were wearing long coats and hats. Since they did not really have a destination in mind again they had chosen a path at random.

They had been on the road for several days now and had not come across another traveler. Which was a disappointment because they had information on where they were and who or what controlled the area. What was worse they had eaten all their food and had not found anything in the area that they could eat. It was during the time they contemplated finding a farm and stealing a sheep or two.

Currently they were walking wearily down dusty road that had been beaten in the earth instead of being laded down in a proper fashion. Naruto had been complaining that he was hungry for the last hour and Fenris was very close to clobbering the fox boy when they heard a cheery sound and a wonderful smell of freshly cooked food. They raced towards the source of the smell and found and old man wearing red shorts, a vest of the same color and a straw sat next to a broken down, horseless cart mending a broken wheel. Although the man was obvious quite old his small body showed that his arms and legs were strong and ropey while his skin the colour of tanned leather. It was quite clear that he had spent most of his life out doors.

Naruto did notice the old man at first, he was engrossed with the contents of the man's cart. It seems that the man ran a traveling food stall that went around villages around festival time. Naruto was drooling when the old man noticed them. He stopped whistling and looked at the two boys; since he could not tell they were half-demons; he smiled at them with a cheery look in his eye.

"Hey old man would you like a hand?" asked Naruto. The old man nodded.

"If you two could just lift my cart up so I can put my wheel back on that would be great." Said the old man in a rusty voice, as he continued to work on the wheel. Naruto and Fenris grabbed an end each and lifted. They could have each lifted the cart easily on their own but they had decide to try to act as normal as possible around people, which had taken a long time for Fenris to drill the idea into Naruto thick head. The old man started whistling again as he slid the wheel back on to the axel before securing it in place. Naruto and Fenris let go of the repaired cart.

"Now what can I give you boys for your help?" asked the old man. Fenris jumped in before Naruto could answer.

"Oh we don…" he was cut off by the rumbling that came his and Naruto's bellies.

"Actually could your spare some of your food?" asked Fenris as he laughed nervously.

"But of course." Said the old man who then laughed. He gave them some bread, which they devoured on the spot, then gave them two bags of food to keep them going till they got to a village. After thanking the old man they were about to go on their way when Fenris stopped and turn back to the old man.

"I don't suppose you could tell us about whats been happening in the area? If it's not too much trouble." Asked the black haired boy. The old man had just got between the two poles at the front of his cart and was about to start of his journey again.

"Sure. From what I heard there is something that's getting the demons riled up in this area" said the old man

"You serious?"

"Yes and there starting to appear in greater numbers. It's not safe to into the forest at night. I've even heard that they attacked some of the smaller villages around here and a boat too."

"That explains that ship we found" said Fenris as Naruto nodded. "I bet that's going to get Gatouu annoyed at the lose of his money."

"It wont do him any good, he's dead" said the old man with out a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Really? What happened?" inquired Naruto

"Up until about a week ago he controlled all the shipping around the Wave country and was choking the life out of the place. That was until they stared building a bridge so they could start trading again. Now this bridge would scupper Gatouu's plans so he hired some renegade Ninjas to kill the head bridge builder who in turn had hired some leaf Ninjas. But he could not afford a high class ninja so all he got were some freshly graduated Genin and their sensei. To cut a long story short the leaf Ninja and Gatouu's ninja fought on the half completed bridge. The leaf ninjas had just about won until Gatouu had shown up with the biggest gang of thugs you ever saw and was planning to kill off all the ninja their, even his own. The last remain renegade Ninja turned against Gatouu and killed the vile bastard before being killed him self. I heard they buried him close to the village as a mark of respect. After all this the thugs decided that they were going to loot the village, that was until the entire village showed up armed to the teeth with what ever they could find. It seems that the villages finally decided to stand for them selves and make a stand." The old man took of his straw hat and wiped the sweat off his brow.

"One of the ninjas" he continued "the one that looked like a scarecrow, then used some jutsu that made an army of him. Seeing that they were grossly out numbered the thugs high tailed it out of there in to the woods. No one's heard from them since." The old man finished his tale and looked again at the two boys. "You two should go to the Wave country it's not a good idea for you be out in the open with the demons acting up and those bandits are could still be around. Besides they still haven't finished the bridge yet so you two should be able to find work there since the economy has picked up again."

Thanks old man" said Naruto as the old man waved good bye and whistled as he made his way down the road pulling his food filled cart behind him.

"Shall we see what the Wave has to offer?" asked Fenris as he munched on another loaf of bread.

"Yeah let's go!" cried Naruto. Fenris got out their map and quickly found the way to the country of the Wave. They set off down the dusty road towards the Wave and hopefully somewhere they would be safe, for a while.

"Hey Fenris." Said Naruto. The storm wolf looked at him.

"Yeah?"

"You know nice people like that old man? I really like those kind of people." Said Naruto as he walked with his hands behind his head, looking up at the sky. Fenris consider what he had said for a moment.

"Me too." he responded brightly. The sun was shinning and the sky was clear. It was going to be a good day.

End of part 1.

Ok it's been a while since I up dated and I have been working on this chapter for a while. I realized that this chapter was going to be even longer than the first so I'm splitting it up. I will try to have the second part posted soon after this one. Once again I would like to hear what you think about this chapter. I get reviews saying it sucks I will delete and rewrite it. The techniques list will be at the end of part 2.

Thanks for reading.


	3. Chapter 3 part A

That way part two. Part A

First of thanks to everyone who read and reviewed so far. I just love hearing what you think. I'm afraid I'm not finished with the Wave arc just yet and it might take one more chapter after these two. The reason this is part 2 part A is because the chapter is so long I thought it would be a good idea to split them up to give you guys a rest.

I would like to give a galaxy sized thank you, and you guys should as well, to Randomxer-pl who is my beta and has been working very hard to make sure that there are fewer spelling mistakes and grammar as well as spotting plot holes.

Thanks you all again for your support and I hope you like this chapter as well.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto but Fenris is my OC. As of before if you want you can barrow him.

I just have to do this. MWHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA.

Ok I'm done.

By the following afternoon they crested over a hill and saw what must have been the Wave Country. The village which only a few weeks ago had been living in a state of fear and despair, was now a bee hive of activity. As they got closer the two disguised half-demons could hear the awesome noise that the lively village was creating. The calls of the newly arrived street venders shouting their prices and wears was loud, as was the gabble of the town's people on their daily business. But none were as deafening as the sounds coming from the bridge.

Naruto's jaw dropped. It was vast. It stretched from the edge of the village, all the way over a part of the sea, to the other side. It was clear that there was still a lot of work needed as the final sections connecting the bridge from the village side to the mainland was just giant framework made of wood and metal. The construction method seemed to consist of setting up the frame then constructing the concrete bridge section before moving on to the next section. Even though it was not yet finished the bridge could have easily held the entire populace of the Wave on it and still have room to spare. Naruto tried to pull his balaclava further over his ears to muffle the deafening noise that was coming from the bridge. Foremen were calling to their subordinates, large trucks and cranes rolled across the bridge transporting building material, workers joked and sang while they worked as every one pulled together to complete the bridge that would bring further life to the recovering town.

(I know that the bride was finished by the end of the Wave arc but it is pivotal to the plot that it isn't finished when Naruto and Fenris arrive.)

They strolled down the road that was carved into the earth towards the end of the bridge and found a red and white striped barrier and two guards armed with makeshift spears blocking the entrance. The guards eyed the two half-demons with suspicious looks as they approached.

"What do you two want?" asked one of the guards curtly. He looked at them almost with a sneer on his face while his companion glared at them with an impassive look.

"We came here form our village in the mountains looking for work and shelter" replied Fenris as politely as he could even though he wanted to relieve the haughty guard of his teeth. He could feel Naruto tense up beside him. They both hated being looked down upon; they had endured too many years of it in the Undercity.

"Oh you came down from a village in the mountains" the guard said sarcastically. He leveled his spear at them while his companion did the same. "We don't want your kind in our village"

"What do you mean 'our kind'?" growled Naruto completely ignoring the spearhead that was aimed at his chest.

"Your kind. The kind of low life drifters that have no respect for anyone and think they can do, and take, what they like. But I saw what you are the moment I saw yah. Just by the cloths you wear I know what you two are. We've been charged from protecting our village from miscreants and riffraff. Now get lost before we show you the meaning of pain." Needless to say Fenris and Naruto were less than scared and were just about to teach the two overly belligerent guards the meaning of pain involving their spears being inserted somewhere incredibly tight and highly unconformable.

"What's going on here?" said a voice. The guards raised their spears and snapped to attention. A medium sized man with a short grey beard walked towards them. He wore a dark green sleeveless top, an orange safety jack, ordinary trousers and a yellow hard hat. Naruto could smell the lingering smell of alcohol and sweat emanating form the man. If he could smell it no doubt Fenris could smell it clearer and he would not like it. Sure enough Fenris was fighting back a look of revulsion at the old man's smell.

"Chief foreman Tazuna" said the mouthy guard with worry clearly visible in his voice. "We were just about to send these two troublemakers away when you got here."

"Troublemakers? we haven't done anything. These two jackasses won't let us into the village." Cried Naruto. Chief foreman Tazuna looked at the blonde with a questioning look.

"Sir it's obvious that these two are lowlifes. Just look at what they're wearing." Said the guard defensively.

"I'll be the judge of that. The Daimyo said I can say who enters and who doesn't" said Tazuna as he glowered at the guard. He turned back to Fenris and Naruto. "Now what do you two boys want in the village?"

"We're looking for work and a place to stay." Said Fenris. The old foreman looked both of them up and down. They felt him scrutinize them, from their travel worn shoes to their hats that hid their long fury ears. Naruto felt his stomach tighten as he waited for the old mans decision. The old man sighed.

"I'm sorry but I can't let you cross this bridge" Naruto's heart dropped. "No one is allowed to be on the bridge unless they work on it and are wearing proper safety cloths. You'll have to take that road to the right and enter the village further down the road. I'll meet you there to discuss your careers in the village after I've _dealt_ with things here." He gave the guards an annoyed look. Both of them gulped at the prospect of what was going to happen to them.

"Thanks old man" Naruto said happily. Fenris bopped him on the head.

"Show some respect" he said. Tazuna grinned as the two boys set of down the road. He turned to the two guards.

"Now, who said you two could decide who gets in and who doesn't" he said ominously.

Naruto grinned broadly as they walked towards the entrance of the village.

"Hey Fenris. What was wrong with those guys back their? There was no need to be that mean." He said

"Obviously they gave a big man's job to little men. They saw the fact that they had to guard the bridge as an important job that they were given pacifically, when it's a simple job that anyone could do. But it made them feel superior to those who they consider below them and so they felt they could do what they wanted as long there was no one around that was superior to them. And being petty probably brought them great delight. That's why they were scared when Tazuna came to see what was going on. Their attitude probably arose from that they were unsure of the security of their position and felt the needed to defend it." Naruto thought about Fenris's insight to the two egotistical guards.

"You mean they're bastards?"

"Yep that's the way I would usually describe them."

They reached one of the side entrances to the village and found a small but sturdy, old wooden bridge that allowed them to transverse the coursing water underneath. Though it didn't look like it was going to fall apart anytime soon it was now wonder why the Wave needed a new one. It allowed to travel from one side to the other but it was wide enough for two people at most, so it couldn't serve as a trade tract for merchants and vendors. After they walked across they found Tazuna waiting for them.

"I got those two pompous jerks cleaning the work site latrine. Now judging by your size I can't have you two working on the great bridge itself so…"

"We're stronger than we look. We can work just as hard as any one else on that bridge" boasted Fenris. Tazuna looked skeptically at the two boys then he remembered the ninjas he had hired. Even thought they too were children they bested Gato's men easily. As a result he had learned not to judge people on their appearance as much as he used to. Maybe these kids were like them and really could work just as hard. God knows he needed all the man power he could get. The battle for the bridge had caused serious damage to the structure setting them back a few months.

"Ok you can work on the bridge. But one thing before that."

"What?" asked Fenris as he felt his stomach churn at what the old man might ask them.

"What's with your clothes? They don't exactly match with the hat and coats. Orange with gray?" Before Fenris could tell him a convincing lie that would saved them Naruto jumped in.

"You see when we were younger our ears were burnt and our hats stop the cold air form making them fall off. And were we came from was very hot so when we got here we were not used to the cold so we wear our coats all the time." The blonde had said all this very fast with his usual smile. Fenris had the urge to head butt something hard, repeatedly in disbelief.

"You both burnt your ears?"

"Yes"

"And wear hats to protect them?"

"Right."

"And you say that were you live was hot event though I heard that you lived in the mountains?"

"Err... Yeah" replied Naruto as he mentally kicked himself. Fenris could feel the sweat on his neck run down his back as Tazuna looked at them.

"Whatever, I don't really care as long as you two work hard. Come on I'll take you to the registration office and get you assigned to a work gang." Fenris breathed a silent sigh of relief as they followed the Chief foreman.

Soon after walking through the gates they saw, first hand, how alive the streets were. People were dashing around carrying briefcases, papers, food deliveries and other items. Mothers trying to keep their children close to them as they brought things from the noisy street vendors. Now that they were closer Naruto and Fenris could really hear how loud those vendors were. It was almost unbearable for their ears to take as they shouted their wares. Even though almost everyone was rushing about, the whole village seemed to do everything with an air of happiness and joy, despite the few that seemed to be unkind just like the two bridge guards. It was amazing that every one was so happy with their lives at the moment.

"It's amazing how a near disaster makes everyone glad for what they've got." Said Tazuna, almost as if he had read their minds. "A few weeks before Gato showed up most of these people would be complaining about how hectic the country had become. But now every one is so busy, doing what they can to help the country get back on its feet."

"Hey Tazuna" piped Naruto.

"Since you're now working for me you call me either "foreman" or "boss" understood?"

"Yeah ok. Boss what's going on over there?" said Naruto as he pointed at a group of people in a large outdoor court attached to the side of a building. Some of them appeared to be practicing unarmed combat while others practiced drills with various weapons. There were even some doing archery, mostly women.

(I do not intend this to be sexist or to offend anyone. If I have I am very sorry but I just don't see the women of the village taking apart in melee fighting as much as the men.)

A few people were not taking part in any of the exercise and were walking around inspecting what the others were doing and giving advice. Fenris guessed that they were instructors.

"That's the town militia. Unlike the village guards those guys strive to protect the village. The ideals of the Ninjas, I assume you know what happened with the battle for the bridge, have rubbed of on most of the young people of this village and they started a group to protect the village. Now every young boy here wants to join them, including my grandson Inari but he's too young to join them just yet. Anyway a few weeks ago they approached the country heads and requested that they start a militia to help protect the village. The heads of state agreed and called in some veterans to train them and they have been working hard to do what they can to defend the village, just like my son in law did." He looked remorseful when he mentioned his son in law.

"What happened to your son in law?" inquired Fenris seeing if the old man would divulge more.

"When Gato first arrived only my son in law was the only one who stood up to him while the rest of us cowardly ran for cover. He was then brutally executed before the eyes of the whole village, and we lost all of our hope, especial Inari. He would cry in his room every night over his dad's picture and he though we would never escape Gato's terror, even with the bridge complete. But the ninjas stopped that. A few days after they left Inari started to lighten up. A couple more days and he were back to his old cheerful self. He started to train with his crossbow more often now so he can join the militia when he's old enough." The sadness seemed to have lifted form Tazuna when they reached a large plain building at the edge of the bridge that leading the village.

They went inside and Tazuna sat behind a desk covered with papers and blueprints. He took a swing for a sake bottle before truing his attention back to Naruto and Fenris. He pulled out a draw and took out some tags. He threw the tags to them which they caught with ease.

"In the opposite building there are sleeping quarters, since a lot of workers here move from village to village, so that's the best place for you two to stay. Get settled in and report here tomorrow morning at six to be allocated to a work gang and a foreman." Tazuna then turned to look at a blueprint. Since there was nothing they wanted to know Naruto and Fenris went over to the sleeping quarters.

It had been five days since the two half-demons had arrived in the village but it felt like they had been there all their lives. Even thought they still got strange looks because of their usual clothing, mostly form children who blatantly stared at them, almost no one looked down on them and they were quickly becoming popular on the bridge building site. The first couple of days they just spent the time carrying various building materials to where they were needed on the bridge. After a bit of begging, and pestering, Tazuna allowed them to actually physically help constructing the bridge. They were good to their word and worked just as hard as anyone else on the site, even outperforming some of the most experienced builders. Whenever they arrived for work everyone visible brightened up. Naruto's antics and boundless optimism even after making a mess of what he was doing made everyone laugh, including himself, while Fenris every so often quoted famous lines from plays and films he had perfectly right down to the accent. He also told a number of jokes, most of them risqué. Although they worked hard Naruto and Fenris enjoyed playing the odd prank as well as not taking authority too seriously

The most humorous situation was when Fenris and Naruto had accidentally got covered in cerement powder and a foreman from another work gang was about to give them a telling off when Fenris got down on his knees and mockingly begged for forgiveness in a loud melodramatic voice. His little act caught the attention of the nearby workers who stopped to see what was going on. The foreman in the end walked of muttering to himself as Naruto and the rest of the workers burst out laughing. Fenris stood up and bowed flowery, until Naruto called him a ham. Fenris chased him around until Tazuna, who was walking by, told them to stop goofing around and get back to work. They smiled and dived back into what they were doing even though they were covered in cerement powder.

But not everything went smoothly. Even though their work gang was comprised of some of he nicest people they had ever met, their foreman seemed to have the same personality traits that the two guards they had meet when they came to the Wave. He was disliked by the entire gang and most of the other workers. He seemed to take delight from throwing around his authority and making sure that everyone knew he was in charge. That changed only when Tazuna walked pass by them so he could start fawning over the chief foreman. Each and every time Tazuna looked at him like he was an oversized cockroach. But his attitude never changed, so this lead to Naruto and Fenris getting some revenge on him, even if it was petty.

It was after he had unfairly punished Naruto by docking his pay for something that was not even his fault. It was when the foreman walked away that a scowling Naruto nicked a tube of industrial strength glue. Naruto's grin threatened to go right of the sides of his face. Later he joined Fenris for lunch, never taking his eye off their despicable foreman. He snickered as he tried to open his lunch box. Fenris looked at the foreman and also began to laugh as he began smack the sides of his lunch box. Soon the entire work force was laughing as he swore and shouted at his lunch box. Naruto flashed the tube at Fenris who grinned even more before showing Naruto an identical tube of glue. Naruto turned back to their foreman who took of his hard had to use it as a hammer to force open his lunch box. Or he at least tried to. The hard hat did not budge a single bit. Naruto and Fenris laughed even harder. The foreman turned to them with murder in his eyes and his faces an angry beat red. They quickly hid the glue as he took them to Tazuna's office. After the foreman accused them of gluing his lunch box and crash helmet, which they both promptly denied. Tazuna dismissed the foreman telling him he would deal with this. After he had left, Tazuna burst out laughing.

It defiantly seemed that no one liked their foreman. Although he found it funny Tazuna could not have they pulling pranks on his bridge and disrupting progress. Naruto and Fenris grew worried at this point, thinking that they were about to get fired. Tazuna assured them that they were not going to be sacked as they did work very hard. So he assigned them to lumber duty. They looked at him confused. He then explained that with lumber duty they were to go out into the surrounding forest and cut down trees, which were to be collected later on in the week. It sounded that it would be easy job when Tazuna told them they had to fell at least fifty trees a day. For a normal human that would be near impossible but as half-demons they would have very little trouble, thought they did not tell their chief foreman this and just accepted the work with gusto.

Naruto sat on a fallen tree as he looked down upon the Wave country with the sun sinking below the horizon behind it. He had a very good view of the village and the sunset since the island he and Fenris were currently assigned too was East of the village. Every now and than a barge would moor to the island to load the already fallen trees and take them to the construction site. Since the Wave itself was so small the lumber teams had to travel to the outlying islands and, when they need a lot of trees, the main land. This meant that there was involved either a trip on a barge or a lot of walking and was sometimes given to workmen who did not pull their weight, although his and Fenris case it was just to keep them out of trouble.

He could faintly hear the sound of an axe biting into wood as Fenris cut down the last of his fifty trees of the day. A small smile crept across Naruto's face. Tazuna said they would be hard pressed to cut down fifty trees a day together, as lumber teams were sent out in twos, but they could easily do fifty each in half the time due to their increased half-demon strength. While most other lumber teams rose at dawn and finished at sunset Naruto and Fenris got up at mid day, had lunch, and then hiked up a hill and on their own cut down double their trees and still finished before most of the other teams.

As a light wind tickled his face Naruto though about the Wave; the first place he and Fenris could call home. Even better was that the people saw them as ordinary, albeit strange and hyperactive, boys. By now they were sure that, at the moment, no one from the Fang knew their location and was not actively hunting them so they could leave anytime they wanted. But it was so nice to be accepted by everyone that they kept putting of their departure.

But there was something at the back of Naruto's head telling him that they would not be able to stay here for much longer. They would have to move on. Even thought the thought made him sad, he would always fondly remember the Wave.

There was a loud creak before a loud crash. Fenris joined Naruto on the tree and looked at the colorful sunset.

"Do you think we'll be able to say here?" asked Naruto

"To be honest… no." replied Fenris. Naruto was about to argue with is reply when Fenris held up his hand. "I love this place as much as you do but we're half-demons. It's Sod's law that at some point we'll mess up and then they'll see what we are and fear us. So either way we have to leave. I really will miss this place Naruto; the people have been so nice. But we can't spend the rest of our lives hiding behind our hats and coats." Fenris shook his head. "We are also a threat. Didn't you feel it Naruto? During our fight we performed feats never seen by a half-demon. Somehow we have a great power at our command. And our powers will grow over time becoming harder to control and we'll grow to be more destructive. When that happens we'll turn into targets for demons that would want to take that power."

"You're right." Conceded Naruto. "We do have great power and we'll get stronger. But that doesn't mean we should hide from the world. We could easily destroy a village but I want to use this power to protect, not to destroy. Not just the people in of this village but everyone else that needs protecting. I don't want anyone to suffer like we have. I will protect everyone! That is my word and everyone will see that we are not mindless monsters." Naruto looked intensely at the setting sun.

"Funny. Up until a few years ago I would have been classed as a mindless monster." Naruto gave Fenris a questioning look. "I lived for vengeance. I had a family once but in one night they were taken away from me. " said Fenris in a low voice. Naruto was shocked by this revelation. Though they were close they still kept a few secrets form each other. Naruto felt a great sympathy for Fenris at that point. He never had a family so he did not know what it was like to lose one but Fenris's told him that it was a great pain to live with. Almost as great as being alone.

"I wanted to become stronger" continued Fenris "so I could kill the monster that took every think form me. I did what I thought would make me stronger and started to pick fights with anyone and anything, refusing to rely on anyone but my self, never caring about how many I hurt. But I soon found out, after meeting, you that true strength can only be obtained when you are protecting something. I vowed on that day that I would still destroy that monster but not for my own vengeance but so no one else would know the same pain I did." Naruto relaxed as he stopped worrying that his friend was walking a path of vengeance and pain. Fenris turn to face Naruto.

"Naruto, we have the possibility to become the strongest half-demons in the world and no hell spawn scum sucker will be able to stop us."

"And nothing will harm those we care about."

"Exactly" Fenris grinned. "Also we will have a bloody fun time while we're at it."

Naruto smiled. "Yeah we'll beat the living daylights out of every evil scumbag out there."

They laughed as the night began to creep further upon the village below.

"Let try to stay here as long as we can." Said Naruto.

"Good idea. We're in no rush to be heroes." Fenris replied quietly. They watched the sun sink behind the horizon before picking up their axes and walking back to the village.

(I'm not good at the heroic speeches, especially for Naruto. Best I could come up with.)

Naruto awoke the next day feeling slightly better about leaving the Wave. Now that it was decide that they would protect people the world did not seem so bad. To thought of being the hero he always wanted to be reassured Naruto that leaving the Wave would not be the end of the happy times. Naruto rubbed his sleepy eyes as he looked at his bedside clock. Ten thirty flashed on its digital display. Naruto groaned. He had woken up two hours earlier than he usually did. He flopped his head back down this his pillow and tried to fall back to sleep and the dream he was having about a beautiful girl with short midnight blue hair.

(I know I'm taking huge liberties with this aspect of the Naruto story line but hey what the hell.)

Naruto's fox ears twitched as the sound of Fenris's thunderous snoring dashed all hopes of returning to his dream of the girl. Naruto looked over to the bed at the opposite side of the room were the slumbering wolf half-demon laid face down. Naruto glared at him as his long shaggy hair covers his face and his wolfs tail swished back and forth. Since the sleeping quarters were divided into private two man rooms Naruto and Fenris were able to remove their hats and coats giving their ears and tail some much needed freedom.

Naruto got out of bed and slipped on his black t-shirt along with the green goggles and wearily made his way to a small table and cupboards. As he searched the cupboards for something to eat he found a small wooden mousetrap. He could still hear Fenris's snoring that probably traveled through the entire building. He looked between his friend and the mouse trap several times before grabbing the trap and sneaking over to Fenris. Naruto set the trap and placed it on the covers that had been pushed down by Fenris, half way down his legs near the end of his swishing tail.

Naruto quickly got back into his bed and pretended to sleep, but left one eye open to watch Fenris as his tail got closer to the trap with each swing. Fenris's tail stopped swishing and landed on the trap. There was a loud snap as Fenris jumped into the air with a yelp. Naruto sat up wide eye looking at Fenris.

"What happened?" He said innocently. Fenris looked at him accusingly and Naruto sniggered. Still chuckling as Fenris prized the trap off his tail Naruto put his shoes on. Naruto winced as his right foot sank into his shoe and felt cold porridge spurt up the sides of his leg. Naruto removed his foot from the sloppy shoe and found that his left has also been filled. He looked over at Fenris who looked at him innocently before bursting out in laughter.

After Naruto had cleaned out his shoes and Fenris had put a plaster on his tail they decided to go to work earlier today since they had nothing else to do. A quick brunch later, since it was too early for lunch but too later for breakfast, they got dressed in their clothes and hats they made their way towards the lumber mill, which for some unknown reason was situated at the other end of the village away from the great bridge. This meant that they had to walk all the way through the center of the village, leading them past all the stores, before they could punch in, pick up their axes and trek to the next section of trees. This did not bother the two half-demons as they enjoyed seeing the life of the village and the friendly greetings they received, something that was bit strange when they first started working.

As they made their way through the busy streets that day they saw a young woman with long brown hair struggling with a mass of heavy shopping bags. She gave one last effort to heave the heavy bags before sitting down in defeat.

"Excuse me miss would you like a hand?" asked Fenris. It would not hurt to help her; they were not in a hurry. The young woman looked up at the two boys. She stared at them for a second, most likely wondering about their dress sense, before smiling.

"Yes please. If it's not too much trouble could you please carry these bags back to my house?" she said. Naruto and Fenris picked up the bags easily and followed the brown haired woman back to her house. A short walk later they found them selves at a large wooden house near the water front. The house, while it seemed that it would have been expensive to own, was in a state of disrepair, at least on the outside. The woman made her way to her door as Naruto and Fenris followed. Naruto's foot smacked into something hard and yelped in pain. He looked down and saw a gnarled root that crawled away from a large tree stump in the middle of an overgrown, weed ridden garden.

"Oh I'm sorry." Apologized the woman. "I've been meaning to get that thing dug up but since there is only me, my son and father who live here there is no one to work on the garden or the house for that matter. Our old house was damaged beyond repair when Gato occupied the country. So my family had to move into this one since it was only one available. But as you can see it is not in that good condition either, but my family makes the best of it. At least we have a place to sleep at night." She turned and looked at the weather beaten house. "If only I could hire some one to fix up the place but we won't get enough money until the bridge is finished." Naruto looked at the woman and the house and smiled. It was good to see that even in a bad situation people still carried on living. At that point an idea came to Naruto.

"We'll help." Said Naruto flashing his huge smile.

"Oh that would be a great help. But I wont be able to pay you very much." said the woman. Fenris was about to tell Naruto they need to get to work, when he looked at the smile on the woman's face and felt his heart melt. It wouldn't matter if they missed work if they could make just one persons life better.

"No need. We'll do it for free." Fenris said kindly. The woman smiled as she opened her door and they walked into the kitchen and placed the heavy bags on to the floor.

"Where are my manners?" said the woman. "I'm Tsunami."

"I'm Fenris and this is Naruto." Said the storm wolf jabbing his thumb in the direction of Naruto. Tsunami's eyes widen slightly in surprise.

"Oh my father has told me about you two. He's the chief foreman on the bridge, he told my son Inari all about your pranks."

"So Tazuna is your father?" asked Fenris. Tsunami nodded.

"Yes, he talks a lot about his work when he gets back. Now I'll write up a list of some of the jobs that need doing. I'll pay you with dinner for your kind work."

Soon Naruto was back in the front garden looking crossly at the tree stump. Tsunami had asked him to pull up all the weeds in the garden and try and remove the stump. The task seemed tedious; the prospect of spending the afternoon on his hands and knees in the dirt did not seem particularly inviting. But Tsunami had promised a big dinner as their reward. Naruto drooled as he could smell Tsunami's cooking wafting out of the kitchen.

Naruto dug his fingers under the stump and heaved with all his might. The stump came away tearing up the earth around it as it's roots attempted to cling the earth where they had been for so long. Extremely pleased with himself Naruto put down the stump and proceeded to evict the weeds from the front garden. While he worked Naruto could hear the sounds of hands beating on wood. He looked up and saw Fenris removing old wooden planks from the roof and laying down new ones. Naruto grumbled as he recalled that he and Fenris had tossed a coin to decide who got to work on the roof and who got the garden. Fenris won and decided to repair the roof. It would have looked normal if he was using a hammer. Instead he just pulled out the nails out of the planks using either his hands or teeth and simply slapped the new planks, complete with nails, with his hands.

Naruto shook his head and turned his attention back to the garden. An hour later Tsunami came out side with a tray of drinks and told them to have a break. By half past four Naruto had pulled up all the weeds in the front garden and it was now looking a little less wild. Fenris had gotten half of the roof done and was now making a start on the other half. Naruto decided to tame the back garden now. He walked round the side of the house and saw that the back garden was just as wild as the front use to be. What really caught his attention was that there were a dozen wooden posts with bulls eyes painted on them. They were covered in numbers of holes. Naruto briefly remembered the times he trained hard so he could become strong enough to escape. Whoever used these posts seems to have the same determination that he had.

Naruto bent down to pull up a weed when he sensed something coming towards his head. He rolled to the side and dodged a wooden sword that smacked into the ground. Holding the sword was a young boy wearing a white hat. He had the same colored hair as Tsunami. Naruto assumed that this must be her son Inari. He turned to face Naruto.

"What are you doing in my garden?" he shouted. He charged at Naruto and swung his wooden sword at the side of Naruto's head. There were a number of ways that Naruto could deal with the attack. He chose a method that would stop the attack without harm and persuade Inari not attack again. He raised his hand and grabbed the wooden blade stopping it inches from his head. Inari looked stunned. The serious look on Naruto's face turned up into his wide foxy grin.

"Pulling up weeds." Naruto said. He let go of the sword causing Inari to lose his balance slightly and stumble backwards. "Your mother asked me and my friend to do some work on your house."

"Like I'm going to believe that" said Inari. At that point Tsunami popped her head out of a window.

"Naruto could you please chop some wood for the fire. The gas line got damaged a while back so I need a large pile. Oh welcome home Inari, how was school?" Inari just looked dumbfounded.

"It was good mum. I'm just going to practice with my crossbow."

"Ok. Dinner will be done in about an hour. Naruto and Fenris will be joining us since they been so helpful. What are you doing with that sword?" Inari quickly dropped the sword.

"Nothing." Tsunami looked like she did not believe him. She looked at Naruto who just smiled and rubbed the back of his neck. She shook her head and returned her attention back to the dinner. "Sorry about that." Inari said giving a little nervous laugh.

"It's ok." Said Naruto still grinning. "That was a nice swing; it would have taken my head off." It would not have really but if Naruto was normal he would have been crawling around looking for his teeth at the moment. Inari smiled.

"Who's Fenris?" asked Inari wondering about the other dinner guest.

"My best friend and a hammy actor." Replied Naruto with a chuckle. A small piece of wood hit Naruto in the back of the head.

"I heard that knucklehead." Said Fenris. Inari looked up at the roof and saw another older boy wearing the same type of coat as Naruto and long shaggy black hair that was tied back under a fur hat with ear flaps. He looked at Inari and gave him thumbs up. "Alright." He said in away of greeting. "I'm Fenris and short stack there is Naruto." Fenris smiled while holding several nails in his teeth and a hammer in his hand. Naruto looked at Fenris and hurled the wood back at him. Fenris caught the wood in his free hand and smirked. The smirked was wiped of his face when a clod of earth caught him right in the face. Fenris wiped the dirt form his face and prepared to throw the wood again when Tsunami called.

"Naruto I really need that wood and Fenris could you please get that hole patched over before my father gets back." Fenris relaxed and went back to work. Naruto went over to the wood pile and started chopping the wooden into small logs.

Inari looked confused for a second at the casual behavior of the two older boys before getting his crossbow and started training. Naruto chopped wood for several minutes all the while listening to Fenris's hammering and the sound of Inari's crossbow being fired. Fenris must have started using the hammer since Inari was home and it would be hard to explain how he was able to hammer in nails using his bare hand. Naruto had just finished making a small pile of logs ready for use when he heard the sound of the crossbow stop and Inari cry out in frustration and throw his crossbow down on the ground.

Naruto turned around and saw Inari sitting on the grass in a huff, looking at the end of the garden. Naruto looked up at the target posts. Inari had managed to hit the middle of the bull's eyes on all the post except for one at the far end, and his bolt was way off target.

"Damn it. Why can't I hit that last target? It's been five weeks and I still can't hit it." Inari growled to the air, completely forgetting about Naruto being there. Naruto smiled a small smile remembering the times that he struggled to do something right and causing him an unending frustration. But he never gave up and in the end he achieved what he set out to do. Naruto decided to help Inari achieve his goals.

The boy sat glaring at that one elusive target. It was impossible to hit is. He might as well give up trying. He was about to go inside to his room when he felt the air near being whipped aside as something flew past him and embed itself in the far wooden post. Inari saw that it was an axe. He looked behind and saw Naruto.

"How did you do that?" he said in disbelief as he looked at the blonde. "That's a shot damn near impossible with a crossbow. How did you do it with a wood axe?"

"By screwing up hundreds of time, but never giving up. By trying again after each time I failed." He looked at Inari and gave a reassuring smile. "I know your train to protect your loved ones. Never give up to protect those that mean the most to you."

Inari looked at Naruto with wonder in his eyes.

"Dose it really work? Trying again even in the face of defeat." He said. Naruto smirked before jumping into the air and kicking out his right foot. In mid air he kicked up his left making him somersault before descending back to earth. Hs stuck his hands out and landed in a hand stand. Naruto then span on his hands to make his legs spin like a windmill that would have sent flying anyone standing

in the way. Naruto pushed up with his hand and flipped to land crouched in front of Inari, still wearing his huge smile.

"Yes it dose. That combination took me a long time, and many falls and bruises, to do." He said. A big smile then spread across Inari's face.

"Wow that was amazing. Why is it that you know how to do that?" Inari asked. Naruto could have made and excuse not to answer the question but he decided to tell Inari as much as he could with out revealing his and Fenris's secret.

"Before we came here me and Fenris were alone in the world. We meet each other when we were younger and became friends. After a while by ourselves we were taken in by a sort of village that promised to take care of us. But in fact they just wanted to use us. We were imprisoned and trained to be the village's tools." Naruto did not think it was a good idea to tell Inari that the village was an Undercity and what it was. "For years we were there until me and Fenris escaped from right underneath the noses of the elders. We did not know what to do then but we knew we were trained fighters capable of anything. We could have used our skills for our own gain but we didn't want that so we decided to help as many people as we can, while stopping those who would seek to hurt them."

Inari looked again at Naruto in wonder. He sound like a hero form one of his story books.

"That is so cool." Inari grinned again. "If you can do it, then I won't give up either to protect the village." Inari picked up his crossbow again with determination blazing in his eyes. "Even if it's hard."

"You can always ask for help. There is no shame in that." Naruto said.

"Erm… Naruto will you help me become stronger?" Asked Inari.

"Yeah, of course I'll help when I can." The blonde replied. Inari and Naruto felt something whoosh about their heads. They heard a loud crunch as the clawed end of a hammer stuck into the far end post next to the axe.

"You can count on my help as well." Said Fenris. Naruto and Inari looked up to see Fenris jumped down from the low roof and land in front of them. "You can never get too muck help, and since me and Naruto teamed up we've been unstoppable."

"Thank you both." Said Inari almost overwhelmed by the offer of help from the two boys. His grin turned sly at the point. "Hey is it true that you two super glued your foreman's lunch box shut and his hat to his head?" Naruto and Fenris looked at each other as they tried to surpass a pair of smirks.

"Maybe. There was never any proof." Said Fenris as he began to snigger.

"Yeah, since we hid the glue before we got caught." Said Naruto. All three burst out laughing.

(It was a bloody cow to right the inspiration section. But it was needed for Inari to gain more confidence.)

"Boys, dinner is ready!" Called Tsunami. All three hurried inside for what promised to be a delicious meal. In the kitchen they found Tsunami lifting a large cooked chicken from the oven. Without being asked all there boys grabbed various plates and cutlery and set the table. After the table was set and the food laid out Tsunami looked at her two guests.

"Thank you so much for helping, I just wish I could do more to repay you." She said with a warm smile.

"It's ok; I just wish I could have got more of the house done." Said Naruto. While they had made a great improvement to the house it still needed a lot of work.

"You two have done more than I could hope for." Naruto and Fenris blushed slightly. Just then they heard the front door open and close.

"Welcome home father, how did construction go today?" Tsunami called.

"Terrible." Said Tazuna as he hung up his safety jacket out side the kitchen. "One of the crane's cables snapped and dropped a large amount of wood into the water. We really needed that wood for support before we could cemented the next section of the bridge. It would not have been so bad if we had a larger supply of wood but those two kids with bad fashion sense didn't show up for work today and they cut down the most wood out of anyone. I'm going to give them a serious talking to tomorrow."

"Sorry boss. We'll cut down double what's needed tomorrow." Called Fenris. Tazuna walked into the kitchen looking very weary.

"Good, see that you do… what are you two doing here!?" Tazuna cried out looking rather annoyed.

"About to eat dinner." Said Naruto with a sheepish grin. Tazuna was about to say something when Tsunami cut him off.

"Don't shout at them father. They saw me struggling with the shopping and kindly offered their assistance in bringing it home. Then they helped out fixing the roof and tiding the garden." She looked at him with her usual kindness but her eyes made it clear to Tazuna that she would not let him take it any further.

"And the said they'll help me with my training." Chimed Inari.

"Oh really?" said Tazuna as he sat down. "Well I suppose I'll let you off for today since you have been so helpful to my daughter."

"Thanks boss." Said Naruto.

The rest of the meal went well. Naruto and Fenris remembered their manners and ate very slowly until Tsunami said there was no need to be overly polite and to dig in since they have worked so hard. Naruto and Fenris then became whirlwinds of hands and forks as they seemed to inhale the food, stopping long enough to thank Tsunami, and continued to eat even after everyone was full.

(I know they mostly likes been using chop sticks but thought using forks would be better for this section.)

The meal ended when Naruto and Fenris both stabbed the last piece of meat at the same time. This lead to a miniature duel with forks, ending in Naruto the victor and Fenris mock dying in melodramatic fashion. Tsunami and Tazuna laughed while Inari burst into a round of applause as Fenris got up and took and overly showy bow, ignoring Naruto calling him a 'ham'. Tsunami was about to make a start on the washing up when all three of the boy volunteered and instantly cleared the table. Fenris washed as Naruto and Inari dried. While washing the taps gave a gurgling noise and the water stopped flowing.

"Oh bother. I wish they would stop doing that." Said Tsunami in an irritated voice.

"I'll hire a plumber to get them fixed. But it may take a while since I won't get paid till the bridge is finished." Said Tazuna "I'll see if I can get the rest of the house fixed up as well."

"No need. Me and Fenris can do it." said Naruto in a confident voice.

"Do you two actually know anything about plumbing, wiring and lighting?"

"No" said Fenris. "But up until a few weeks ago we knew nothing about construction. No harm in having a go, plus we've already made a start and I hate leaving anything unfinished." Tazuna considered it for a moment. They did prove they would try their hardest with anything they set out to do.

"Why not. It's not like this place can get much worse, and you have been doing a good job so far." Naruto, Fenris and Inari all grinned and proceeded to complete the washing the best they could without water.

For the next couple of weeks the two half-demon settled into a new routine. They would get up earlier than they did before, hike up one of the hills on one of the islands around the village and cut down as many trees as there were need to be hauled away the next day. Since they now rose earlier they filled their quota by mid day. It was then that would walk back to the village, their axes in hand, punch out and go straight to Tsunami's house. Naruto and Fenris always felt something warm and fuzzy inside their chests when they looked upon the house, which was half way finished with the repairs. They have completed the outside of the house and moved on to the inside. After a few mistakes, and turning too many reference books and manuals, Naruto and Fenris became rather proficient at plumbing, wiring and many other technical skills that they needed to complete the house.

After their work on the house was done for the day, Inari would arrive home and the two older boys would help Inari in his training. They would teach him the basics of each of their individual fighting styles all the while stressing the importance of discipline and not abusing the teaching they gave him. This was not a hard task as Inari solely trained to get stronger and protect his loved ones. It was during these training sessions that they got to know Inari better. He told them all about his hope and dreams, how he was rescued by Kaiza who later married his mother and became his stepfather.

(I know in the anime and manga he doesn't marry Tsunami but I wrote earlier that he was Tazuna son in law. I don't feel like changing it.)

Inari also told them about when Gato arrived and how Kaiza had stood up to him and was killed for it. Naruto and Fenris were reminded about their fellow half-demon who had met a similar fate. Inari looked very saddened when he told the story so Naruto started to tell him about some of the adventures that he and Fenris have had, making sure to substitute the demons for bandits and other evil men. Fenris soon join in and Inari listened enraptured as they told him tales, both of sorrow and triumph. Inari soon brightened up realizing that it is ok to mourn and remember loved ones that had passed away but he should continue to live his life.

Inari then told the story of how the leaf ninjas came to the village with his grandfather. It was Naruto's and Fenris's turn to be engrossed by the story as Inari told them everything. How they fought against Gato's ninjas, how they protected his grandfather even after he had lied to them and how even though one of them was a coward and traitor they still kept fighting. By the end of that day all three had come to a conclusion. Ninjas are damn cool. What made the story even more enthralling for Naruto and Fenris was that there was a chance, a small one but a chance none the less, that they could become ninjas as well. Life seemed to be very good for the two half-demons and they began to feel like they belonged in the Wave. Especial after a comment from Tazuna.

It was during a dinner cooked by Tsunami, one the many she insisted they stay for, that Tazuna mentioned that they had been so helpful to them and village that people started thinking them as part of the village and part of the family. Naruto had never felt so cared for in his life and was only to stammer out an 'thank you' while Fenris just looked happy and remained silent, although Naruto saw one single tear run down the side of his face.

But the day that Naruto and Fenris knew that was coming, the day they both dreaded and wish would never come. The day they had to leave the Wave and set out back into the wide would on their own.

This chapter continues in part B.


	4. Chapter 3 Part B

Part B

It was a bright, sunny day as Naruto and Fenris made their way up a hill, a large one that rose out of the ground on the mainland, to where the next lot of trees were. They had to travel further and further away each time as most of the trees that they could cut down, since to make sure they did not deforest the whole area they were only allowed to cut down certain sections of the forest, were located a greater distance away. They did not mind the ever increasing walks and it still only took them half a day to fell enough trees for the bridge.

As they walked through a section of young trees, that they were told to leave alone; Naruto was busy twirling his wood axe in his hands as Fenris walked a good distance behind him. The reason for this was soon validated when Naruto lost control of the rapidly spinning hatchet and sent it flying into one of the trees.

"Oops" said Naruto as he went to retrieve his axe. Fenris sighed and shook his head, something that he did often.

"I don't know why you bother doing things like that." He said. Naruto yanked the axe from the tree effortlessly with one hand.

"It's a good way of practicing dexterity. Plus it looks cool." Naruto said flashing his bright pearly smile. Fenris rested his axe behind his head.

"Well to each his own. Personally I'll stick to hacking." And with this Fenris brought his axe down upon a freshly cut stump and almost split it in two. After pulled his axe from stump Fenris smirked. Naruto looked at his friend then the stump. Naruto twirled the axe in his hand again, making swishing noise as it sliced the air, and dashed forwards. In one low horizontal swing Naruto's wood axe sliced through the stump sending two wedges of wood in to the air. He looked at Fenris and smirked just like the storm wolf.

"To each his own." Naruto mimicked. With their little challenge finished in a draw they both relaxed and smiled at each other. They always had these unimportant contests to see whose way of doing things was better. But they only showed that there are many ways of doing something that lead to a similar result.

"Come on lets get done today so we can go to Tsunami's." said Naruto who really wanted nothing more but to spend more time knowing what it was like to have a family.

"Yeah." Said Fenris who also wanted to go to Tsunami's "No sense wasting time we need to…" Fenris stopped mid sentence, frozen still. Naruto looked puzzled until Fenris started sniffing the air. Naruto took a small sniff and faintly smelt something that he had the misfortune to know too well. Rotting flesh, a lot of it. Fenris turned quickly to face the tree line. He glanced at Naruto with a serious look, Naruto nodded and they took of into the trees.

As they flew through the trees, utilizing their half-demon speed and reflexes as much as they could, Naruto could make out the smell clearer now. What ever it was it had been dead for weeks and was giving off an unholy stench. Naruto was starting to feel slightly light head as they continued to rush towards the source of the putrid odor. Naruto wondering how Fenris was able to stand it; surely it had to be twice as bad for him than it was for Naruto.

They came skidding to a halt as they entered a clearing deep in the woods, and looked upon a terrible sight. Dozens of human corpse littered the clearing along with blackened bloods stains and shredded internal organs plastering the trees. Naruto was correct in his assumption on how long they had been there as all the skin that had not been eaten by scavenges and insects was pale, putrid, decaying and covered in a thin film of puss. (Or what ever type of slime. Puss just sounds the best.) They were scattered about the area, most of them in pieces. Whoever these men were they were armed with an assortment of weapons from axes to giant meat cleavers. It was clear that some had fought back but did not prevail.

Naruto and Fenris walked further into the clearing. It became obvious that this was a hastily erected campsite from the fact that broken tents were trampled into the earth along with various pot and pans.

"Looks like they were ambushed." Said Naruto. Both he and Fenris had been at massacres before, even caused a few but only to demons, so they recognized what one looked like. Even so Naruto was sickened by sights like this.

"It looks like something, or some things, came out of those trees…" said Fenris, who was looking a bit sick, pointing in the direction of some trees with huge chunks ripped out of them. "And took them by surprise as they were setting up camp." They continued to look around trying to who these men were and what killed them.

"Hey Fenris." Said Naruto. Fenris was crouched down next to a corpse when he looked up at Naruto. "You know those bandits that worked for Gato and ran away. And no one has seen from them since. I think we've found them." Fenris thought about this and conclude that he was right. Naruto may not be the smartest all the time but he dose have his moments.

"I think you're right." He said. Fenris then rolled one of the corpses onto its front. "And what ever killed them removed their hearts." Naruto's eyes widened in shock. He looked at the bodies near by. Although he could tell to some extent that the mortal wounds inflicted varied it was clear that all the bodies had a gaping hole in their decomposing ribcages.

"Why?" Naruto asked. Fenris just looked around the clearing again.

"I don't know. But one thing is for sure, they weren't killed for food. The hearts are going to be used for something." Naruto and Fenris continued to search the area in an attempt to work out what could have taken the hearts. Naruto reached the edge of the clearing where the only bodies were the ones who had tried to run away. Naruto closed his eyes and focused his hearing to reach out into the trees ahead of him.

The only noise he could hear was the sound of the wind floating through the trees. He stretched his hearing out more, nothing. He heard nothing, no scurrying of little mammals, no birds song, no buzz of insects, nothing. The entire part of the forest was devoid of animal life and this worried Naruto greatly. Very few things could make the animal life of a forest disappear and they were often something most people made a point to avoid. Naruto pulled back his hearing to his location and was about to make his way back to the bandit camp when he heard the sound of something thrashing around nearby. Naruto hind behind a tree and poked his head out to see one of the corpse moving side to side in a frantic fashion. Naruto instantly felt a cold sweat form on his shoulders and seep slowly down his back. He hated the undead. Even though his fire would easily obliterated the reanimated corpse of the bandit he still shook every time he saw a stretched dead corpse moving about.

Naruto steeled himself to destroy the decaying fiend the moment it rose to its feet when it stopped moving. A look of confusion spread across Naruto's whisker marked face until a purple centipede, about the size of a small dog and as long as a snake, peeped over the edge of the body. It swished its top half around, surveying the trees, before giving a low hiss and plunging back into its rotting meal. The fire fox sighed. He did not believe he had got so worked up over a small grub of a demon that was probably a minion for a bigger demon. A thought shot through his mind and Naruto grinned to himself.

This little centipede might know what killed the bandits. The bug demon was blissfully unaware of the half-demon slowly creeping, on all fours, behind the trees. Naruto steadily got closer until he was in range. The corpse stopped thrashing again as Naruto leapt up into the air towards a large branch that reached out above the body and its diner. Naruto grabbed the branch with one hand and placed his feet against the side of it in a crouched position facing down at the insect demon, who was now looking out at where he had been a few seconds ago.

Naruto launched himself at the centipede. The demon looked up and screeched as Naruto landed on top of it. The demon struggled and writhed around causing itself and Naruto to roll around. After the demons brief attempt at escape Naruto pinned its back against a tree, a few feet of the ground for the centipede, with his left hand, claws digging into the wood with its head and needle pointed legs held firmly in place.

"Let me go!" it screeched in a feeble voice. "Or feel the wrath of Queen Garanus. You wretched human."

"Who is Queen Garanus?" said Fenris. But it was not his usual voice that he used. Gone was the humor and confidence, now his voice was cold, level and emotionless. Naruto glanced behind him to see Fenris standing a few feet behind him completely still, his face remaining neutral. The only think showing any signs of life on the storm wolf's face was his eyes that had narrowed slightly into a piercing stare. In side Naruto grinned. Fenris was playing the part of the interrogator and Naruto knew how to help the act along. He adopted the same look and tightened his grip around the centipede slightly making a scraping noise as his claws dug further into the tree.

"I'll never tell you anything other than I will enjoy feasting on your innards when you feel her vengeful fury for hurting one of her brood." The little demon had unintentionally given the information they wanted.

"So she's a brood queen." The centipede's little beady green eye widened while it squirmed uncomfortably. "You're obviously just a grub so you didn't kill these bandits. So I assume the queen's larger minions did. Tell us, what does she want with the hearts?" The centipede did not answer the question, instead it spouted out a list of obscenities, all of them very vulgar, insulting everything from their families to their clothes.

Fenris just rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically.

"Naruto." He said in his cold voice. The corner on Naruto's lips curled up slightly into a menacing smirk as he grabbed one of the demons tiny legs with his free hand and began to twist it the wrong way, very slowly. The insect screamed and trashed round with renewed vigor.

"Alright I'll tell." Naruto stopped twisting and let go of the leg. "The queen ordered her swarm to harvest the hearts of all the humans of the surrounding area. They're to be used in a ritual to makes her brood stronger than any other."

"So that explains why that other centipede had such thick armor." Said Naruto. The little demon chuckled quietly. Naruto tightened his grip making the demon splutter slightly.

"What's so funny?" Fenris said with menace in his voice.

"It doesn't matter if you know the queen's plans. No one can stop the brood now, not even those putrid hunters. Maybe if you live long enough you'll witness destruction of your village. Of course that's not until prince Gathnus had had his fun with the female." The vile insect cackled as Naruto was about to hit it to shut it up. Naruto felt a surge of energy behind him and just moved away for the centipede as a small stream of electricity struck the centipede. It screeched in pain and its body spasmed as small arcs of electricity danced over its body. The electricity stopped and the centipede hit the ground, leaving a gap in the black scorch mark on the tree, landing in a crumpled state blackened as parts of its skin floated away in the wind as ash.

Naruto looked at Fenris who stood still, like he was before, but his right arm was outstretched with his hand open like a claw pointing at the tree. His face was twisted into a snarl. Fenris stayed in the same position for a few seconds before relaxing and shaking his head.

"Sorry Naruto." He apologized.

"No problem. I was about to squish him myself." Said Naruto. Even though he had almost got shocked himself Naruto understood from years of being with his friend that certain things would really make him angry. There were things that would set Naruto off as well and the news of a swarm of demons preying on innocent people really made both of them livid.

Fenris gave a guilty smile before closing his eyes and lifting his head up. He started to take long breaths through his nose taking in all the scents from the area. Naruto closed his eyes and reached out with his ears. After not hearing anything for the first five hundred feet Naruto increased the range. He stretched out his hearing as far as it would go, so far that he would not hear anything near him, and still did not find anything. He was about to draw back his hearing when he heard some thing scuttle across a rock. Naruto followed that sound, straining his ears so that they almost hurt, and found that it was joined by a mass of other noises but they were faint. He could hear the diminished calls of several creatures and the sound of something bubbling.

His ears stung badly now and Naruto was forced to stop and pull back his hearing. He rubbed his ears and saw Fenris wriggling his nose like he was trying to force a sneeze. After they had recovered from stretching out their sense Naruto and Fenris both pointed in the same direction.

"That way." They said in unison. They looked at each other and smirked before they dashed off deeper into the forest. Once again they raced through the trees. Naruto could smell something horrid again but it was not the smell of death. He absently wondered why it was that they never found anything that had a pleasant aroma, instead of smelling like an open grave. The two half-demons skidded to a halt as them came upon a huge ancient tree. This was not their destination but it would be foolhardy, even for Naruto, to rush into a situation with out knowing what they could be facing. They quickly climbed the tree, leaping from branch to branch, until they reached near the top and crouched down using the leaves for cover.

The huge tree gave them a good view above the forest canopy and they could easily see what they had been heading towards. Insect demons, hundreds of them. They had ripped up the trees nearby to create a clearing large enough for them occupy. Among the mass of writhing demons was a large stubby cone of rock like matter. It was the size of a large house and was filed with holes that could easily fit an ox down it. Naruto squinted and could see a large demon poking out of one of the holes. It was hanging over a mound of bones and would screech at the other demons every so often.

"That must be her majesty Queen Garanus." said Fenris. The direction of the wind shifted and Naruto got a stronger whiff of the foul smell he smelt earlier. He looked past the brood queen and saw a large pond. The water was a mix between red and black and bubbled and frothed.

"Hey Fenris. Isn't that water like the type used in demon rites?" said Naruto. When they were in the Fang they had witnessed a few of the demonic rituals. Most of they were a way of increasing a demons power and they, along with other secrets of an Undercity, were fiercely guarded.

"Yes it is." Replied Fenris. "And 'wild' demons should not have access to them."

Naruto swore, this was bad. Almost all demon rituals required ingredients, often human organs.

"We should try and get closer. I want to know what they are planning." Said Fenris. Naruto nodded in reply and they both dug a clawed hand into the tree and slide down it, carving off long strips of bark. They quietly circled the clearing, a safe distance away, until they were up wind of the demons. While they did not have any formal training in stealth, like ninja, Naruto and Fenris had the basics of stalking engraved into their beings from their wolf and fox qualities. They moved slowly towards the edge of the trees and slid, on their bellies, underneath a thicket of thorny bushes. Naruto and Fenris could now easily make out what the brood queen was saying.

"Soon my children we will deal our bloody revenge on those who insulted us!" Preached the queen in a rasping voice. Naruto had seen many insect demons but Queen Garanus was by far the most repugnant he had ever seen. The rocky cone was in fact an oversized hive. It was covered with a sort of oozing slime that pulsed from a fleshy looking sack at the top of the hive. Naruto then turned his eyes to the queen. To Naruto she looked like some hideous, ganglands cross between a woman and a wasp. He could only see the top half of her tail as most of it was stuffed down a huge hole in the hive. From what he could see it was bulbous and colored red with black stripes and ever so often the flesh rippled. Her abdomen was like a woman's except instead of skin it was a ruby red carapace that covered the greater detail of her body. (Nipples, belly button sort of like amour.) She had a row of long needle sharp spines running down her back. On both side of her spines were three translucent, ragged insect wings. Her arms were very unlike a human's. For a start she had four, two large ones that were as long as a grown man, and a pair of smaller ones that sprouted out from her sides just below where her ribcage would be. All four were red like her body and had no skin; instead they were made out of the same carapace as her abdomen. They were long and powerful each ending in a large three clawed insect palms.

Her head was the most shocking of all. It only resembled a human in its basic shape apart form that it was a nightmare assembled from an insect's head. A large cone shaped crest started as her fore head and swept back ending in a point. A mass of pale green dreadlock like tendrils came out from under the crest and dangled limply down the sides of her abnormally long neck. She had no ears and her eyes were green compound eyes like those of a fly. Small barbs went down the ridge of her nose that leads down to her mouth. She had two large fangs that hung down over her mouth that opened side ways to reveal a large gapping maw, which could have easily fitted a man's head, with four spikes mandibles that clicked when ever she talked. (I see her a bit like the queen out of aliens.)

"Those fools in the Horn will regret ever banishing me from their Undercity. Once we have completed the harvest we shall cruse all who oppose us!" The assembled demons bayed and cheered in response to their queen's ranting. Naruto squirmed underneath the thorn bush trying to avoid being punched by the thorn. He almost jumped out of his skin and into the bush when a loud screeching roar echoed from the far side of the clearing.

"Prince Gathnus returns!" bellowed a voice. The insect demons surrounding the queen parted and a group composed of different types of bug demons made their way towards her. Leading the group was a creature which looked human but was unmistakably a demon. He was tall, lean and had a handsome face, except that his eyes were not human they were like the brood queens apart from being sapphire blue. His hair was light green and tied back in a loose pony tail that reached down between his shoulders. He walked with his hand in his pockets and his mouth was curled into an arrogant smirk. He was wearing a normal white shirt and blue trousers. He had the top buttons of his shirt undone reveling speckles of red that became a solid piece of insect skin the further it went down his chest. He came to a stop before the queen and bowed.

"Ahh my son you have returned. I see you a wearing another human. I will never understand your affection of wearing your victims." Said the queen in amusement. The prince chuckled in a low voice.

"This skin belonged to strongest warrior in the village that we harvested." Said the prince, his voice was filled with arrogance and smugness. "He was quite handsome so I gave him the honor of becoming me when I seduce human women before devouring them." the queen laughed but I was not filled with happiness, it was the one filled with cruelty and contempt.

"Again another thing about you I will never understand. Why do you not hunt just like the rest of your family, but instead play with your food?" said the queen. Her son smirk grew more wicked and evil.

"I just love to see the fear in their eyes when they realize the man they are with is about to kill them and crush all their foolish dreams. There is no greater thrill." The prince cackled madly. Naruto felt Fenris tense up besides him and growl quietly. Naruto also found himself wanting to pull off prince Gathnus's head.

"Mother." The demon continued. "I have brought the hearts of the villages to fuel our ritual so that we can grow stronger." The queen and her son turned to see the demons who had arrived before make their way over to the foul smelling pound and throw in a mass of bloody hearts. The water violently bubbled as jets of green fire shot up from the surface. It continued for the better part of a minute before the waters settled into its gently bubbling of before. A demon dipped a long necked glass jug into the water and handed the now filled jug to the prince before scurrying back. The prince swirled the liquid a few time and brought the jar to his lips.

"My queen I must protest." The prince's hand stop as every one turned to face a small, weedy, demon that looked like a human except he had thick brown insect skin where his hair would be. He seemed very old for a demon as he had a short white beard on the end of his chin. "It is foolish to drink so much, if any, of that potion. We know nothing of the stranger who gave the recipe and we don't know its full effects. While it makes us stronger it could very well kill us. Also the Wave also has a sizeable defensive force. It the advanced guard is busy trying to brake through their defenses we could come under attack by other demons or and Undercity. Who surely would have noticed our activity in the area by now and investigate. If they find that we have accesses to an advance ritual they will fall upon and, even with the ritual potion, we will be wipe out.

We should destroy the whole batch and…" the old demon did not finish as the brood queen grabbed him by his throat in one of her huge hands and effortlessly lifted him up to look her in the eye.

"You do not give the orders here, you maggot." Growled the queen. Her free arms grabbed the struggling demon by the arms and legs before releasing his neck. The old demon was now held in the air by his arms and legs which were being slowly pulled in opposing directions.

"M… my queen I only speak out of concern. While this potion makes us strong its borrowed might is enough to assault and Undercity with."

"Silence! You dare question me? That is treason and the penalty is death." And with this the queen opened her mouth to reveal row upon row of razor sharp teeth. Naruto could now tell that her saliva was corrosive as it dripped on to the pile of bones beneath her and hissed as it ate its way into the earth. The old demon screamed as the queen's mandibles closed round his throat and his head was enclosed by her mouth. The screams soon ended as she pulled her head back ripping of his head, spraying purple blood of the ground, before pulling out his writhing arms and legs. The queen swallowed the head as the limbless torso hit the ground. She threw the arms away before turning her attention back to her son.

"Our strength increases. We only need the hearts of one large village before we can crush the Horn. What was the village that maggot was blithering on about?"

"The land of the Wave mother." Said the prince as his smirk soon returned. "The advance guard is already waiting nearby ready to strike. The bridge they hope will bring life to their village will provide the best route for our attack. I had already factored in the time limit we have here. The bridge is large enough to allow us to quickly enter the village before their militia can mount a defensive. We can have their human remains spread out across the village, like freshly stuck pigs, before the sun even sets." The prince's smile twisted to a look of depravity and maliciousness at the thought of a full village of hapless victims waiting to be harvested.

"Very well my son. Take your demons and join up with them. And strike tomorrow at noon. Bring me the hearts by night fall without fail, so don't spend too much time entertaining yourself with the women." The prince laughed and drank the potion he had been holding. His body stiffened and Naruto watched in horror as bone spines, like the queens, burst out of his back and a ridge of barbs sprang out from his forearms tearing up his stolen skin. He raised his head to the sky and screeched. The demons joined him in their called before he turned and walked away from the clearing, with his demons in tow. Naruto made to move, to attack the vile insects, when he felt Fenris roughly clamp his shoulder. Naruto turned his head and looked at his friend.

"We know their strategy." Fenris growled in low voice. His face was locked in a look of angry and he never took his eye of the queen. "We can exploit the situation now to stop them before they even set a foot in the village." Fenris let go of Naruto and jerked his head in the direction that lead back into the trees. After they had crawled out from under the thorn bush they quietly made their way away from the clearing and raced back towards the bandit's camp.

When they arrived Fenris quickly pulled out a map of the area, which they had so they did not get lost, quickly brushed a severed arm of a tree stump and unrolled the map flat. Using four discarded knives Fenris pinned the map corners to the stump and studied the map.

"Hey, why didn't we just rush in their and take them out?" complained Naruto. Fenris looked up at the fire fox and gave him a flat look.

"You never think ahead. We could have rushed and killed both the queen and prince but you forget about their advance guard that is set to attack the Wave tomorrow. And we would be too tired to fight them if we fought today." Naruto mentally conceded that Fenris was right. The storm wolf did have a knack for predicting enemy movement. Naruto grumbled and joined Fenris to look at the map. The map showed everything within the country's boarders. Fenris rested his chin on his hand tracing his finger over the map, mostly from the smaller villages to the clearing where the swarm resided. Fenris then moved his finger from the clearing towards the Wave, his eyes widened in shock. He slammed his fist against the map and swore.

"I can't believe I missed this." He growled. He got up and began cursing again, mainly his own stupidity.

"What did you miss?" Naruto asked. Fenris stopped swearing and returned to the map.

"I missed the fact that since we escaped there have been less and less animals in the area. Plus there has been little contact with the fishing villages on the coast. All things pointed to demon activity but I never saw it." Fenris glared at the map.

"Come on Fenris we all make mistakes." Naruto said trying to reassure him. "We still have the chance to stop them from attacking the Wave. We can do it. " Fenris looked at Naruto as the fire fox gave him his usual smile but with determination mixed into his features. Fenris smiled slightly.

"I have no doubts about that. But those bastard bugs have probably killed every living person in the villages in the area. And if the majority of the villages hearts have been converted in that potion those bugs are going to be very strong compared to what we dealt with before, if that colossal centipede is anything to go by. The only option I see is that we met their advance guard tomorrow and take them head on. But if one of them escapes and makes it back to the queen she is most likely to flee and return later in the future with a larger force." Fenris shook his head and sighed. "And I can't think of a way for us to fight tomorrow, defeat the prince while protecting the village, without the queen relocating. If that happens we'll spend the rest of the year trying to hunt her down which will be hard considering that she has remained hidden for this long." Fenris got up and started pacing while Naruto looked at the map again. Fenris was right if they were both to defend the village tomorrow it would prove useless if the queen escaped and considering how quickly a brood queen can lay eggs the were looking at a very long year. Naruto had an idea and his ears pricked up.

"I've got it!" he exclaimed. Fenris's head snapped round to look at him. "One of us defends the village while the other takes out the queen." Naruto smiled smugly at his idea.

"You're suggesting that each of us takes on a hoard of demons and their leaders, all of which have been augmented by an unknown demonic ritual, on our own?"

"Yeah. Come on we've faced unfair odds before and we've won." Fenris thought for a moment. Then he smiled, his grin matching Naruto's. He was right they had beaten the odds before. And the queen was very disillusioned if she thought that her minions could assault an Undercity, even with their ritual. Undercity demons were the elite of the demon world, and even with their limited training, and some luck Naruto and himself could pull it off.

"It works for me." Said Fenris. With renewed hope Fenris joined Naruto to look at the map. He picked up another discarded dagger and held it loosely in his hand. "Right then, Naruto, the advanced guard is most likely located here in this clearing in the woods near the village." Fenris flexed his wrist and flicked the dagger into the map, stabbing into the clearing he had mentioned. "It's not a good idea to attack them there as it would be easier for them to escape and get help so the best option is to let them get on to the bridge before engaging them." Fenris threw another knife into the map this time at where the great bridge was being built.

"How did you know that I wanted to defend the village and not attack the queen?" asked Naruto. Fenris just smiled.

"Because I know you Naruto and with your desire to protect they won't get past you. Also my temperament makes it more reasonable for me to attack the queen." Fenris grinned evilly while Naruto had to agree. Out of the two of them Fenris was more inclined to preemptive violence against the enemy.

"What's the plan once we've attacked?" Naruto asked. Fenris just shrugged.

"Standard procedure should do." He replied. 'Standard procedure' was what Fenris said when he meant 'go in and blast everything into oblivion'. Naruto shook his head before grinning widely. The plan suited him greatly, it was simple and effective.

"The villages are going to be pissed off, about the amount of damage we're going to do." Said Fenris in a serious voice.

"What damage? It's the demons who will be attacking not us."

"Naruto, we're not the most restrained of people when we fight and I can grantee that a lot of things will be broken tomorrow before we're done." Naruto laughed slightly and rubbed the back of is head with one hand.

"I guess your right." Fenris shook his head like usual and looked back the map.

"The advance guard will attack about noon tomorrow so I'll attack the queen at that time as well." Fenris threw another dagger into the map.

"Why do you do that?" asked Naruto. For as long as he could remember Fenris, when ever they looked at a map, always stabbed all the locations they need to go. The result was a maps with holes in them and Fenris having to talk very fast to get out of trouble with the Fang demons as to why the maps had holes in them.

"Force of habit." He said sheepishly. Fenris idly ran his thumb of the blade of a knife before his head snapped up and he looked around at the bodies surrounding them. He rubbed his shin in thought before grinning. Naruto instantly recognized that particular grin. It was the one he wore when he thought of a good idea, it was also like the one Naruto had when he was about to play a prank. Fenris chuckled evilly to himself. "I knew I'd find a use for that." Naruto knew that he would not tell him what his idea so he did not bother asking.

"Come on lets get back to the village." He said. The fire fox felt it hard to get excited about the upcoming battle. Normally Naruto would be twitching at the thought of a good fight but, unlike the other battles they had had before, the lives of other people depended on their success. Fenris stopped chuckling to himself and looked at Naruto.

"Yeah, we've got a lot to do tomorrow." Fenris said, his voice the same reserved tone as Naruto's. Fenris dropped the knife and they headed back to the village for the last time. They stayed awake that night, unable to sleep. Naruto lay, in total darkness, on his bed looking up at the ceiling. It seemed to him that a patterned had reemerged in his life. Once again he was going to leave the place he had been calling home for the last few months due to the fact that he and Fenris were half-demons. It would not be so bad if is was not for the damage they would have to cause to protect the village. He was sure that Inari and his family would understand but Naruto also knew he would have to see those eye filled with hate and mistrust directed at him again. Naruto shook his head furious trying to banish the memories from his thoughts.

The memories would not go away. Naruto desperately thought of something that would calm him down enough so that he could sleep. He racked his mind and almost gave up sleeping until he remembered the dream he had a few nights ago. The hate filled eyes faded to reveal the silhouette of a girl. Naruto could not make out any discernable features about her, except that she was incredibly beautiful and though the face was hidden in the shadow, he remembered her hair being midnight blue and cut short up to her ears apart for two locks that hung down by her cheeks. She was dancing, swirling and turning with untold grace. It was now that Naruto realized she had no clothes on. He felt a small blush creep across his face as he grinned. The bad memories replaced with the image of the dancing beauty, Naruto drifted off to sleep.

(For an image think of what Naruto saw during the Bikochu arc, except with out the water.)

Naruto was woken by Fenris's voice intruding upon his dreamless sleep.

"Arise fire fox. Battle must be joined." Naruto knew whenever Fenris spoke in archaic speech which made him sound being stupid, while being serious. People have different ways of dealing with being nervous; Fenris's was to start speaking like a knight. Naruto's ocean blue eyes flickered open to look at his clock. It was only six in the morning. He looked up at Fenris, who was standing next to his bed fully dressed, and gave him a long flat look. Fenris just smirked.

"Don't give me that look. I'm going out to get set up so I though it's best to wake you so you can have time to prepare yourself." Although Fenris was smirking Naruto had been around him long enough to know that he was taking this very seriously. Naruto saw that Fenris was holding many lengths of the bungee cord he taken from Gato's ship. It obviously had something to do with his plans, and suited his way of doing things. Fenris made his way to the door, his metal covered boots making a clomping noise as he went, opened and walked out. Before he closed the door he looked over his shoulder at Naruto.

"Good luck. Do me a favor and roast that bastard Gathnus." Naruto had sat up by now. He smiled.

"Only if you shove a bolt up Garanus's arse." Fenris mouth turned up into a small smile.

"I can do that."

"Ok then. Good luck." Fenris waved over his shoulder and shut the door. (I'll be splitting up the fights. I'll write Naruto's first then Fenris's. I don't feel like doing the skipping back and forth between fights since I've never tried it. But I may give it a go later on.)

Naruto slid out of bed, stretched out, and got dressed. He looked through the cupboards to something to eat. They had not been shopping for a while and all that was left was something called Instant Ramen. Naruto had never had ramen before and since he was not very hungry this morning he decided that it would be a waste of time to cook something he might not like. Since he had nothing to do, Naruto pulled on his balaclava, enough to cover his ears but leave some of his hair visible from the front, donned his arm guards, put on his coat and walked outside. The sun has just creped over the horizon and had yet to warm the cold, moist morning air. The streets were empty except for the vendors opening up shops and Naruto. He made his way down the almost deserted streets towards the great bridge.

Naruto reached the bridge and sat on a small wall that looked out upon the concrete structure. Even though it was way too early for the attack Naruto absently started reaching out with his hearing. He heard nothing on the far side of the bridge. It was no too far so it was comfortable enough for him to listen to the far side without his ears being in pain. With his ears focused on the far side of the bridge, causing all sound near him to be muffled, Naruto's eye were free to wonder as he sat on the wall. His eyes scanned the area but he really did not take anything in. One of the few things that he noted was as the sun slowly crept across the sky, drenching the village in a cheery orange light, and that a fine mist was starting to build on the bridge. The mist grew thicker as the day moved on. Naruto had to stop his idle observations of the mist when the bridge workers arrived to start their day. Most of them stopped to say hello to Naruto and ask how he and Fenris were doing. Too preoccupied with the thoughts of the battle Naruto just pulled on his usual smile and exchanged some half hearted pleasantries with the workers. After the workers began their tasks Naruto was left alone once more.

By now the cheer orange light had been replaced by the hard grey light that was cast when clouds choke the suns light. That mixed with the now thick mist seemed to fit the day's coming events perfectly. Naruto wondered what Fenris was doing at this time. A small smirk found it way on this his lips. He knew what Fenris would be doing. By now he would have set up what ever he had in mind and be either pacing up and down, bouncing lightly while shaking his limbs or laughing nervously or, since it was a very serious situation, all three at once. The sun was now almost high in the sky now and Naruto himself was starting to feel anxious. Most people in situations like this would start doubting their teammate or partner but for the two half-demons this was not true. The trust they had in each other was very strong. It had to be or they would have been dead by now. A few months ago they could be seen walking side by side, just like many times before, when they and the rest of the half demons were sent on another suicide mission. They knew when one of their attacks failed the other would be there to help, they knew when one fell or executed a highly dangerous maneuver the other would be there to catch them and they knew that when anyone was down the other would be there for them.

Naruto's confident smile began to return to his face as his trust in Fenris began to chase away his fears. No doubt, at this point, Fenris would be wearing a similar smile only that his would also speak volumes of impending violence for his enemies along with confidence. The sun had almost reached its dreadful zenith when Naruto felt a presence beside him. Since he had been gradually pushing his hearing further and further away he could not really hear anything around him, so it was from some elusive feeling that people get sometimes that he knew someone was there. Naruto quickly pulled back his hearing.

"NARUTO!" who ever had shouted his name had done it right next to his ear. Naruto jumped slightly and fell backwards of the wall. Naruto had a full view of the cloudy sky until a white hat and a big smile obstructed the view.

"AHH WHY DID YOU SHOUT DOWN MY EAR INARI?" roared Naruto as he jumped to his feet.

"Because you were staring of into space and you and Fenris didn't come round yesterday." Replied Inari. Naruto gave a small smile.

"I'm sorry Inari." He said.

"That's ok. So what time are you two going to be round? Mum said she is only able to cook Ramen tonight, but it's very tasty. You'll like it." said Inari flashing a grin closely resembling the grin Naruto was wearing. Or should have been wearing. Inari now noticed that there was something greatly bothering his balaclava wearing friend. "Hey Naruto what's wrong?"

"I'm sorry but me and Fenris are not going to be coming round tonight, or any other night."

"Why?" asked Inari his smile quickly dropping. Naruto saw this and flashed his smile trying to cheer him up.

"It's not because we want too, it's just that we are about to do something, for the sake of the village, that will make every one hates us for it and what we are." Even thought he was smiling Inari could see clearly now that Naruto was seriously upset.

"What are you talking about; come on stop joking around like that it's not funny." Said Inari as he tried to convince himself that Naruto was only joking.

"Do you know what a demon is Inari?" Naruto said. The blonde boy had stopped looking at him and was now staring out upon the mist covered bridge. Inari was confused as to why Naruto was being so cryptic. He was not sure if Naruto even knew what cryptic meant.

"Erm… yeah. Mum says that demons are evil and eat people."

"Do you know what a half-demon is?"

"No." replied Inari who by now was very confused.

"A half-demon is just that. A person that is half human and half demon, belonging to neither species. People and demons alike hate them." by now Inari had moved from confused to annoyed.

"What's this got to do with you leaving?" He shouted. Naruto sighed.

"There is an army of demons coming across that bridge. They'll be here at noon." Inari eyes widened in shock. Any other day he would think Naruto was playing a joke but today he believed him.

"Come on out let's get out of here and get the militia." Inari said tugging at Naruto's coat sleeve. Naruto just looked down at Inari and smiled again. The little boy stopped tugging and looked at his friend.

"I can't do that Inari. I swore that I would protect everyone and not let anything happen to them, as did Fenris. And we don't go back on our word." Inari was about to ask what he was talking about when a roar, which could not have been made by any animal Inari knew of, echoed from the far side of the bridge. Inari felt him self shake with fear and looked to Naruto for guidance. The blonde just kept looking ahead. There was a rustling sound coming from his coat as Naruto reached up for his hat. Inari's eyes almost bulged out of his head as he saw two long fox tails emerge from Naruto's coat and two long fox ears spring free from underneath his hat. Naruto turned to face Inari.

"I'm sorry Inari but I have to do this. I'm really going to miss you and your family. Goodbye." Naruto turned and walked towards the bridge as Inari stood fixed to spot in shock. All of what Naruto had said made sense now and Inari knew there was one thing he had to do for his friend. Naruto felt another tug on his coat and turned to look at Inari again. The little boys gave him an encouraging smile.

"You'll always be the same to me Naruto. I know you can do it."

"Thank you Inari." said Naruto. His smile came back at full force. "I'm not going to let one of those bastards get across this bridge. I swear it." Inari was also grinning broadly now. "Inari it's not safe here. Go home and protect your mother." Inari did not argue. He nodded and gave Naruto a thumbs up, which he returned, and ran towards his house. Naruto turned and continued his way to the end of the bridge.

I'm sorry it takes me so long to up date and it might be a while before the next chapter. So what did every one think of this chapter? I promise that the chapter will be another fight, which I hope that you'll all enjoy. Also the spell list will be posted along with it.

Thanks for reading.

Stuntbutt.


	5. Chapter 4

First off I'd like to apologise to every one who has been waiting for this new chapter and thanks you to every one wrote read and wrote a review. It looks like the wave arc is going to be a few more chapters longer so please bear with me. Im post this part of the acr now because it is now over ten thousand words long and any more than that in one chapter is too much.

Once again I'd like to thank my beta **Randomxer-pl who has been a big help with this fic. **

Review question response.

Dragon noir: thanks for the information about the combat disciplines.

I'm not going to disclose anything to do with Naruto and Fenris in the Leaf. It's no good if I tell you before I write it and I will beware of typos. And I'm not going to make Naruto an idiot.

Dragon man 180: you'll just have to wait for the rest of the fight to find out what Fenris has planned. And yes there are nice demon and Naruto and Fenris will most likely meet them.

To every one else who reads my fics thank you so much for all your support and I hope that you like this chapter as much as my other ones.

Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but once again Fenris is mine.

It's been a while…. MWHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH. Damn that felt good. 

Now the normal reaction for people when they see a horde of demons bearing down upon them is to run like their heels are on fire. So it was on one very eventful day that the villages of the Wave proved themselves to be normal as they raced across the nearly complete bridge like a frighten deer while he walked onwards towards the swarm of insect demons. Everyone proved their normality apart from a fox half-demon who was walking in the direction of the attacking demons. Although his face was as near expressionless as Naruto could get it, his stomach was a bubbling mass of churning fluids as he walked on. At this point Naruto would have given almost anything to make it that there were no attacking demons and that the Wave would live in peace for years to come, while he and Fenris continued to spend their days untouched by the vile corruption of merciless demons. He contemplated what his life would have been like if he was just a normal human that did not worry about demons and monster outside of night time stories. But he knew better. He knew that the monsters and demons did exist outside of stories and what horrors they could inflict upon innocent people. As he took each step that small self-doubting voice in the back of his head, that rarely speaks, started to grow louder.

But another part of Naruto refused to listen to his fears and what ifs. It was the voice that often spoke to him and gave him that small spark of hope and courage that had got him through his lonely life. Since he had met Fenris the voice was not needed as much since he had someone he could trust, someone who believed in him. But that voice was still there, ready to infuse him with absolute conviction and courage in his personal mission to protect others. As he walked, his courage squashing the fear with each step, Naruto remembered the day he had made his vow.

It was his first battle as a team with the rest of the Fang half-demons. Even though they had been forced to fight by the wrenched control collars, that once chafed and cut his neck, he and Fenris had been very confident going into battle and rather boastful at that. But when they looked into the gapping maw of a humongous Cobra demon both their legs filled themselves with fear and refused to move. It was the valiant efforts of another half-demon that he and Fenris still lived. He would always remember that day as the day fear had claimed him and it made him sick to his stomach.

On that day he swore that fear would not stop him from achieving his goals to protect those that needed protecting, and to never give up. Since then he and Fenris trained as hard as they could to protect those that they cared about. During their time before and in the Undercity, Naruto had developed a want to help others especially since he had seen the suffering that others needlessly endured. But he could do no good for those people while he was under the control of the Fang demons. When he found that Fenris had a similar desire they then vowed to escape the Fang and help others in any way possible. And to this day he had never once gone back on his word.

A small confident smile spread across Naruto's face as his resolve burned strongly once more bashing all fear and doubt about what he had to do. Naruto almost had a spring in his step as the bridge workers raced past in blind terror.

The only person to stop was Tazuna as he spotted Naruto out of the corner of his eye walking the opposite way to everyone else. With a stricken face he ran front of the boy and clamped his hands on his shoulders to halt him.

"Naruto what the hell are you doing? We have to…" Tazuna gasped as he saw Naruto's fuzzy red-brown ears and tails.

"Don't worry old man. I'll handle this." Naruto said quietly. He was almost sure that Tazuna would feel the same way that Inari did but he could not bring himself to look at him. If he looked and saw eyes filled with distrust and hate he was sure that the bottom of his stomach would fall out. But the silence was horrible, Naruto desperately tried to think of something to say to end the tense quite.

Then remembering some of the basic strategies that Fenris had tried to drum into his head over the years Naruto thought of something. "But still, assemble the militia at the end of the bridge." The look of shock disappeared from Tazuna's face to be replaced by one of understanding. Naruto slowly looked up and another surge of confidence went through Naruto as he looked at the kind old mans face. Tazuna released the half-demon's shoulders and started to walk past Naruto but stopped.

"If you two aren't in work tomorrow you're both fired." He said in his commanding work site voice. Naruto faced him and flashed his smile, fangs now easily seen.

"Sure thing boss." He said with his usual confidence. Tazuna gave a small smile and continued towards the village. Naruto watched his employer and friend disappear into the mist leaving the bridge eerily quite. Naruto could still faintly hear the roars and rumblings of the insect demons in the distance, reassuring him that they did not take another route into the village. His highly sensitive ears told him that there were a great number of them, so many in fact that the ones at the front would have to move forward before the others could get on. Since the shear number of demons would work against the swarm's speed and manoeuvrability on the bridge the structure of a plan started to form in the half-demon's mind.

Naruto closed his eyes and reached out with his ears, trying to identify just what type of insect demons he was dealing with. He could hear the stomping of a few large demons, about the size of trucks, the clicking of many spike pointed legs of multi legged bugs and the footsteps of the demons that walked in a mockery of humans. Naruto was very thankful that he did not hear the buzzing of winged insects as they would surly make his improvised strategy very difficult to achieve.

While waiting for more of the demons to set foot on the bridge Naruto drew back his hearing and waited as the wind caused his spiky hair to sway and his coat to flap. He found it very strange that the bridge was so quite. All he could hear, apart for the distant rumblings of the demons, was the low moan of the wind as it twisted around the guardrails and the hastily abandoned construction equipment. He also heard the low growl of the wood cutting barge's engine that was moored near the bridge. The once vibrant and alive bridge seemed so queer in cold, grey fog.

The mist, while impeding his vision, might provide the perfect cover for Naruto as he had the advantage of surprise as well as knowing the lay out and structure of the almost complete bridge. A quick attack would keep the enemy off balance and allow the blonde to stop the demons from advancing further. All that he needed was a way to make sure that none of the villages could accidentally get caught in the soon to be chaotic battle.

Naruto glanced to his left and saw two towering stacks of long freshly cut planks of wood. A sudden flash of inspiration struck him as he looked at the stacks. He calmly walked over to them and, with two quick slashes of his claws, severed the ropes holding the wood. The planks crashed into the bridge with a clatter, forming a quick barrier across the bridge. Naruto grinned to him self, pleased with his improvised barrier that should keep anyone else of the bridge. Now that he did not have worry about hurting anyone Naruto prepared to active his flames. He was about to click his fingers and ignite his hands and feet when a high-pitched scream came ghosting through the fog. Naruto swore and raced down the bridge, hoping that he would arrive in time to save the poor soul, whoever it was.

The unfortunate soul in question was a weedy man with a bald ring in his hair where he had forcible ripped off a super glued hard hat. His usually narrow, beady eyes were wide open, locked in absolute terror. He yelped as he was tossed into the air before his foot was caught in the jaws of some sort of monstrous centipede. As the blood rushed to his head he looked down and saw the hoard of demons, they had to be demons; nothing else on earth was this horrific. The demons had ever so quickly appeared at the end of the nearly completed bridge, quickly tearing the bridge guards to bloody shreds, and started to smash everything in sight. While the others had ran his legs failed him and he dived to hide behind a cement mixer, praying to the heavens and shaking violently. The demons had been thundering across the bridge until they suddenly stopped. All that the weedy man could hear was the fevered beating of his heart and his rapid breaths. He though his prayers had been answered until he saw out of the corner of his eye a green arm, ending in a vicious looking sickle point, rose above him ready to strike. He dived out of the way of the strike only to be caught in the jaws of a massive centipede. The centipede turned around to face the rest of the demons, which then all started to chuckle making him shake even more.

The demons then proceeded to throw him, high into the air, towards one another in a sadistic game of catch. Back and forth he went, as the dreadful laughter grew louder. It was with a sharp lurch that he realized that he was now being held high above the bridge, once more in the centipede's jaws.

As he hung in the frightful jaws of the centipede he noticed that at the front of the demons was a human. Or at least he though he was a human until he saw long thin spikes protruding from his back and his eyes were like those of a fly. He had been watching the weedy man's torment with a look of malevolence on his face and quietly chuckling the whole time.

Prince Gathnus smirked as he watched the terrified human whimper in fear as the giant bug suspended him in the air. Despite telling his mother that the militia might be a problem the first strike of the advanced guard had been so successful that a few hastily trained villages would not be a problem. It appeared that the scouts had greatly overestimated the strength of the village. His horde of insects would be disappointed if they were cheated out of a good fight and instead served up another weak village of pitiful humans.

So when they found a quivering human cowering behind a cement mixer his demons could not resist having some fun with him. Each feeble yelp had brought a smirk to his lips as they flung the human back and forth. Gathnus looked behind him to see that most of the demons were on the first section of bridge now; it was almost time to carry on the attack. An unnoticeable shiver ran through the prince as he thought of all of the young, fresh women that would soon be screaming in terror in front of his countenance.

A cruel smile made its way across his stolen human mask. With the number of demons at his command he could easily crush this village. And even if it had a fully trained army instead of a pitiful militia he could still crush them underfoot with his army. It was ridiculous that he had worried about them. With his ritual enhanced powers and troops he had the strongest army in the region and with the collective hearts of the Wave his might would rival that of an under city demon. After that his mother would rule and he would live a life of privileges.

A dark vile thought then crossed his mind. Why should he continue to life under his mother's dominion, living off what scraps she tossed him? He also knew the rite and it would be no great task to wipe out this village and make his own ritual all for himself. And he would not have to convince the advanced guard to join him, as they were loyal to him, even boarding on worship. He chuckled to himself as he decided that he would not take the hearts back to his mother and make himself an unstoppable army. With his own personal army under his command he could crush all of the other broods in the area and rule undisputed, he could live as a king instead of another prince. Then the map inside his head expanded. Why stop at this backwater? As long as the Undercities did not find out that he had the knowledge of one of their rituals he could recruit more demons to serve him and his influence would reach further than any other none noble demon could even dream. After that the Undercities would not be a problem, he could establish his own and the whole world would tremble before him. Even the holy Guardians would fall before him. Why just be a king when he could be an emperor?

With the delightful thought of his own empire in mind he looked up at the great centipede holding the human and gave a short nod. The centipede opened up its jaws and dropped the human. The petrified human landed painfully on the hard bridge surface and bounced slightly. He groaned as he clutched his ribs while a mixture of blood and salvia dripped form his trembling mouth. He had little time to wallow in his pain as he felt a foot roughly roll him over and was greeted by the sight of a preying mantis demon poised to strike, its mandibles clicking happily as it loomed over him. The mantis was about to hit when the humanoid demon raised his hand. The sickle armed demon stopped and looked at its leader, as did the rest of the hoard.

"Today, my warriors, is the day that I take the first steps towards the destiny I deserve." Said the demon prince. The entire hoard was now focused on its leader as he continued his declaration. "With the destruction of this village, and its hearts in my possession, I will build a new demon order that has not been seen for centuries, my order. We will crush the Undercities that shunned us from their walls, with the very powers they denied us." The hoard roared its approval. "After they lie in ruins I will build my own city and it shall be the capital of my new empire, and there will be no power in this land that can stand before us! The waters will be stained red with the blood of our enemies and their bones shall litter the ground like the trash that they are, and all that will be left is our undeniable might." Gathnus's speech was met by a deafening noise as the demons howled and screeched in a dreadful chorus.

After the last cheer Prince Gathnus looked again at the terrified human, who was pinned to the bridge surface by the mantis demon's foot. A horrid grin was plastid across his face as he looked into the eyes of the human. "Now to take the fist step" he said "and the first strike. Cut his heart out." The mantis clicked its mandibles in delight as it slowly turned back to the human under its foot. It placed one of its sharp sickle arms against the foreman's chest. A small whimper escaped his lips as the demon raised its arm high above its head. The foreman threw his arms over his head, to spare himself the horrible sight of the claw swishing through the air down upon his chest.

He could almost count the beats of his heart, as time seemed to slow down while he waited for the sickle arm to pierce his chest and spill his blood. There was a swishing noise, which must have been the claw coming down. The weedy man winced as he felt something hot touch his chest. But the sensation did not stop with one; it felt as though something was showering down upon him. He tentatively peeked through the gap between his arms and saw that the demon that was about to kill him was missing its head. Instead at the top of its body were the stumpy remains of its neck that was charred black. Small wisps of smoke rose from the smouldering stump, as there was another swishing sound. What appeared to be an incandescent ball of light, made more brilliant in the dim light, rocketed a few feet above him and struck the headless demon in the chest. There was a small explosion as the mantis's chest was blown open in a flash of fire and sparks, which rained down upon the foreman.

The demon fell to the ground with a thud as a wave of heat washed over the man's head and travelled down to his feet. He flipped over on to his front, briefly forgetting the demons and his pain, to see what was causing the sudden rush of heat. He saw a figure, no taller than a teenager, standing in front of a massive fire that crackled and clawed it's way sky wards, drenching the grey mist in orange and red light. He could not see the face of the figure as the fire cast writhing shadows of its face, obscuring any defining features. What he could see was that it was wearing a long coat, and a crown of short spiky hair poked out of the top of its head. The foreman though the person must have been a ninja, as they were the only people he knew that use fire as a weapon without using tools to make it. He was about get to his feet and rush to his saviour, when he noticed to long pointed sweeping ears attached to the side of its head and two long tails that flexed and danced in the air behind the figure. Just when he thought his salvation had come, another demon hand appeared, and seemed to want the village for itself.

He swore in disbelief when saw that the fire was not behind the new demon but coming from its hands and feet, blazing upwards in the low wind. He gazed in fear and wonder as the fires began to shrink and recede until they only surrounded the demon's hands and feet. His eyes widened in shock as he recognized the now visible face.

"Fire fox, Uzumaki Naruto has arrived." Said the blond half-demon.

The air was silent for a time as Naruto and locked eyes with Gathnus and let his eyes speak for his hatred of the insect prince. The prince just looked at the stony faced half-demon with a calm look of arrogance and confidence. Naruto understood why the prince could remain unfazed by the sudden death of one of his mantis troops. Behind the loathsome creature stood a force of which Naruto had never contended against in his whole life. The ritually powered demons snarled and growled at Naruto like a pack of ravenous dogs waiting for the signal from their master to strike.

Flanking their prince on both sides stood a troop of mantis demons. They walked up right and wore and assortment of ragged, unwashed, clothes which with no doubt had been taken from their previous victims. They shifted about and swayed, ready to strike, as they rubbed their sinister sickles together, making a horrid screeching noise. Naruto snorted, they were mere foot soldiers. The only problem was that they were so many of them. The fire fox shifted his gaze to look at the row of demons behind the prince. Six hulking masses of demonic insect stood tall above the others in front of them, even the prince.

They resembled elephant beetles. Their bodies were rounded and where supported by two short, but stout looking legs. Broad muscles covered in carapace made up the main part of the body. Two arms protruded out half way up, each ending in a three-clawed hand, while a pair of huge arms sprouted out above them held up by huge shoulders. Each of the larger arms ended in a crushing, barbed pincher. The heads of the beasts where helmet like, onyx black and solid, protecting the soft heads of the insects. They were a glossy black and stretched up wards ending in a spiked fork. Naruto could only see the front part of their faces, which were just two beady blue eyes and mouth with rows of tiny, razor sharp teeth, with a set of wicked mandibles ob the side. (I suggest you Google elephant beetles. Just so you have an idea what they look like.) Two huge centipedes reared up into the air and hissed at Naruto. They looked very like the one he and Fenris had killed weeks ago except that they were twice as big and had huge mandibles that look like they could cut Naruto in half without effort.

The last insect demon Naruto made note of was the one that took up the most room on the bridge. It was absolutely massive, it looked like someone had reached into the realm of nightmares and pulled out an over sized beetle. Its body seemed to be made up of three parts. A cumbersome looking abdomen, a hulking thorax and a vicious looking head, all covered in a strange design of red and yellow stripes that went down its body in arrow shapes with the colours running and merging like a wet panting.

Its thorax was rounded into a smooth elongated dome that had long wicked looking barbs that were in no particular order. Six colossal arms came out from the sides attached to the underbelly of the demon. Each arm ended in a four-clawed hand that dug into the concrete surface of the bridge, making long jagged cracks spread out from under them. The titanic demon's abdomen was unsupported and dragged along behind it. It was dotted with many holes that sucked in the foggy air sounding like an old pair of bellows.

But the head was the most frightful. Like many of the larger insect demons its eyes were incredible small considering its size, making it look like it was squinting. The head was somewhat elongated with a large serrated sabre like spike on the front of its face. The mouth opened wide like a trap door, connected to the top half by long flaps of flesh that had three bony spines that poked out at the front. Ferocious curved teeth filled its mouth and every so often a plume of green air exhaled from between them. (I'm taking my inspiration for this one from the tanker bugs from star ship troopers)

There were a great many more insect demons around and behind the titanic beetle but they were so twisted and made up of different parts of insects that Naruto did not have time to assess them, all he knew was that this was the largest number of demons he had faced at one time and that he had to stop every last one of them.

"Looks like some horny fox demon got sloppy." Naruto stopped looking at the horde and focused on Gathnus. His smirk had now twisted into a cruel grin. The flames surrounding Naruto's hands and feet flared up.

"What do you mean by that?" he growled at the prince.

"Well after enjoying the body of a human female any self respecting demon will kill them, so not to father any filthy half breeds. Personally I eat them after I'm finished." The prince through back his head and laughed a coarse, ugly laugh. Naruto snarled at him. The prince noticed this and stopped laughing, looking smugly at Naruto.

"The body of a human female is most delectable right after orgasm mixed with a rush of pure fear, and I'm sure that the women of this village will just be as ripe as the others." Gathnus licked his lips and was pleased to see the blond half-demon become even more agitated and took one step forward. The demons around him hissed and took a step towards the half-demon. The prince held up one of his hands and the demon halted, he was not done goading the blond. "I've let my troops play around long enough with this human." He said pointing at the foreman, who still lay quivering on the ground. "Despite how easy it will be to crush this pitiful village we are working in a time frame. So we don't have time to deal with you. If you run away now you just might survive."

A wave of anger went through the blond half-demon. Naruto began snarling again, infuriated by the insect prince's comments of women. A brief horrifying image flashed into his head of Inari and Tsunami being cornered by the demons. Naruto quickly banished that image from his mind and focused on Gathnus instead. What made Naruto's temper boil even more was the fact that the prince had just offered him a chance to run away. That was on of the things he hated the most, people thinking he was a coward. His nosed wrinkled making him look feral as his flames began to blaze even more while small jets of fire escaped from between his clenched teeth. His leg muscles tensed as he prepared to pounce. A second before he launched his attack a metal image of Fenris popped into his head, wagging one finger in a disapproving manner. He could also imagine what the wolf half- demon would say. 'What the hell are you doing Naruto? Using your anger in battle is all well and good but only within reason. Don't do something rash and charge in, like you normally do. You have the advantage of knowing the battlefield so use it. Do whatever plan you come up with and kill these bastards, but control your flames and conserve energy…Knucklehead.' Naruto made a metal note to call Fenris a ham after this was all over, but the metal image of his friend was right. His flames shrank to a more controlled level, reducing the amount of energy being lost, and a few deep breaths took the edge of his anger. His muscle relaxed into a less tenses stance and he faced his challenge with cleared mind.

"That's where you are wrong." Said Naruto. The prince looked somewhat shocked at the hint of steel in Naruto's voice, not the growling of a berserk half-demon. The flames on Naruto's right went out hand as he reached into his coat pocket. He pulled out his green goggles and placed them on his forehead. "I made a vow never to run and I refuse to let you monsters harm these people and destroy what they have work so hard to build." The flames roared back into life as Naruto held his burning fist out in front of him. "When facing off against a hoard of enemies the hero always… ahhh!" What would have been an ultra cool speech was cut short when the weedy man, who had been lying on the ground forgotten, jumped up, raced forward and grabbed on to Naruto's grey coat. His eye were frantic and his smile a little panicky.

"Y-you said you where going to save us right." He said in a rapid voice. "Well then you distract them while I get across the bridge." Naruto glanced past his former foreman and watched the demon hoard for any signs of an attack. Luckily the demons stayed where they were and the prince had crossed his arms and sneered. Either he was waiting for more of his demon troops to get on the bridge or he wanted the human trying to worm his way out of danger. Naruto smile sheepishly to the foreman.

"That won't work because I blocked the other end of the bridge, to keep the village safe from the fight." The foreman's face went pale and his left eye started twitching.

"YOU WHAT? You idiot, you've doomed me. I knew you were useless as was your friend. And I know…" the now enraged foreman continued to scream and shout at Naruto for not being able to save him. As much as Naruto disliked the guy he couldn't have him on the bridge in case he got killed, and he would also get in the way. Naruto had to think fast before the prince got bored and ordered the attack. An idea flashed across his mind as his normal fox like grin spread across his face.

"Don't worry; I know how I can get you off the bridge." Said the blond half-demon. The foreman gave him a speculative looked, quite unsettled by the slightly sinister grin that spread across boy's face.

"How?" he asked. Naruto's reply was to roughly clamp his hands on the man's vest and twisted his hips so that he was facing the side of the bridge. The foreman howled in terror as Naruto effortlessly flung him over six feet of concert bridge surface, over the steel guard rail and into the river below with a tremendous splash, especially for one with such a slim build thought Naruto. He broken the surface of the water spluttering and calling Naruto a great number of unflattering names.

"You're welcome." shouted Naruto. The foreman howled one last insult before swimming to the village before the current swept him too far down stream. An ugly chuckle echoed in the mist, Naruto turned to see the prince with one hand in his long green hair as he rolled his head back and laughed.

"Oh you are too funny. Thinking that saving one measly human will be enough. None of my impeding victims has ever been so humorous." The prince stopped laughing and looked at Naruto with a grin devoid of mirth. "I think I won't kill you, I'll just beat you too a pulp then make you watch as my minions carve out the hearts of the villages while I have some fun and a meal."

"No you won't." growled Naruto. "As I said you will not harm anyone in this village, nor will you harm another living soul."

"Ha I have even more troops waiting…"

"They will not come. I also have backup and he's going make sure your mother won't be able to help."

"Two? Is that all that you have brought to contend against my might?"

"We're more than enough to beat you. But don't worry about your mother. I'm your opponent." Naruto stretched his left arm out in front of him and raise his right to the side as he set his legs in his fighting stance. The fire on his hands and feet crackled and writhed with intensity. "My Name is Uzumaki Naruto and I swear by my flames you will not get past me." Naruto stood ready as the smirk slid from the prince's face to be replaced with a cruel scowl.

"I was going to toy with you but now I think I'll just rip your skin off and use your tail as a belt. Kill him!" At this command six emerald green mantis demons raced towards Naruto, crouching low. When he had to worry about his former foreman Naruto had been reducing the power of his flames, but since he was gone Naruto was not going to hold back. So as one of the six demons leapt high into the air, to bring his vicious scythe like claws down upon the half-demon, Naruto hurled a ferocious fireball at the descending demon. The fireball struck the demon square in the chest, exploding in a mass of fire and demon innards, causing burning remains to fly into the sky before raining down, like a macabre firework.

Naruto did not have time to watch the display as a demon to the left of him swung one of its claws at his head. Naruto ducked, the claw just missing one of his furry ears, and stepped to the now open side of the demon. As he stepped past the demon Naruto ripped his burning claws through the demon's side, tearing out a large chuck of soft tissue. The demon screeched in pain as it tried to put its claws on the smouldering wound where its flesh had just been. It fell to the ground as Naruto turned round on his left foot, dropping into his stance, to face the four remaining mantises. After seeing two members of their brood cut killed so quickly and brutally, two of the demons rushed Naruto at the same time. The demons raced towards Naruto side by side, keeping their bodies low to the ground to avoid any incoming fireballs. Naruto raised his left hand higher as the two demons reared up and screeched in triumph.

"Burning slash" called Naruto and he swung his left arm down. Five line of fire flew forward like thin burning whips and sliced the demon on the left to thin ribbons from head to toe. Naruto whipped his right arm straight in a broad sideways arc sending out another flurry of fiery lines. They stuck the second mantis in the middle and cut deep in to the green skin, and since mantis demons are generally lithe fighters the attack sliced the demon in half, in neat bloody chunks. Naruto dived forward over the dissected demons towards the remaining two. He landed on all fours and lunched himself at one of the demons half curled into a ball. As Naruto flew through the air he shifted his weight so that his feet now pointed at the demon. The demon tried the step back as Naruto thrust his legs out. The demon moved back enough to not to receive the double kick at full force but was still sent flying backs, now with a painful scorch foot prints on its chest, into the last mantis demon which was standing behind it.

They slammed into each other and where send back wards, only stopping when they both crashed into the steel guardrail, which buckled slightly. Naruto used the momentum of his kick to back flip over to land on his feet. Bearing his fangs Naruto hurled a fireball at the two collapsed demons, which were struggling to untangle them selves. The demon with the burn marks saw the searing orb streak towards it and quickly leapt to the side leavening its comrade where it lay. The fireball slammed into the demon and with a fearsome blast and blew apart the demon along with a sizeable chunk of the bridge and rail. Naruto swore at the damage he had caused but soon had to redirect his attention because the last mantis had run round to his side and charged.

The demon had caught Naruto by surprise and was too close for him to counterattack. The mantis swung its sharp claws in a rapid flurry. Naruto barely dodged the first strike, escaping only the edges of his coat being cut. The demon increased the speed of its attack, making Naruto duck and weave out of the way, as it continually moved forwards and pushing Naruto back, not allowing enough space to develop for Naruto to retaliate. Naruto was frantically trying to look for and opening. If he didn't find one he would soon be right up to the main force of the demons, and he did not like his back open to them. The mantis swung its scythe like claws in a great double overhead strike. Naruto's mouth curled up into a grin as he brought his forearms up to meet the attack. There was the sound of metal and claw meeting as Naruto's forearm guards stopped the attack dead. Naruto, using a trick out of Fenris playbook, grabbed the demons arms just behind the claw and in on movement pulled the demon towards him as he thrust his head forward, in a vicious head butt.

The demons head was snapped back and it screeched in pain. With a quick flick of his burning claws Naruto cleanly severed the demons arms at the elbow, which went up spinning in the air. Before the severed arms hit the ground Naruto grabbed them and held the scythe like claws pointing down, like huge daggers. He brought the claws up in a vast swing and buried the claws in both sides of the now armless demon. If the demon's face could have shown its reaction it would have been a look of great shock from being killed with its own claws, as dark green blood dribbled out of its tiny mouth. Naruto let go of the demon's arms and jammed his claws of his right hand into the throat of the dieing demon, as it sank to its knees. The demon's head was quickly engulfed in flames. Naruto twisted his body so that he now faced the demon hoard and a prince Gathnus, who was looking angry at how quickly his warriors were cut down.

The prince started to raise his hand and bark an order when Naruto swung his right arm over his head. The mantis demon's burning head was ripped of its neck and rocketed through the misty air straight at prince Gathnus. Before the skull fireball reached its target the two giant centipedes twisted round in front of the prince, and the other demons, to lie sideways on top of each other, forming a wall of shiny carapace. The skull fireball smashed into the centipede wall, exploding in a flash of fire and jagged shards of hard mantis skin stabbed deep into the concrete surface but the centipede's hides remained undamaged. Naruto swore a foul oath that his attack was so easily blocked. He was counting on his improvised shrapnel bomb to distract the front ranks long enough for him to continue his plan. Naruto's mind ran through dozens of different ideas, the longer he took the greater the chance the back ranks would run back to the brood queen for support.

The centipedes began to separate the barrier and rise up in too the air with their bodied wrapping around the bridge. A sizeable gap formed between the centipedes and Naruto saw the razor sharp grin of Gathnus, moving slightly as the prince chuckled. Naruto roared as he hurled a fireball at the gap. Once again the centipedes quickly formed a wall and once again Naruto's attack was stopped. Snarling, Naruto threw fireball after fireball as he continued his assault. The centipede wall shuddered violently as each fireball slammed into it, exploding in masses of fire that shook the bridge, but the wall held. Naruto stopped throwing his fire balls and saw that he had done was blacken the demon's carapace and the bridge surface around them. Naruto thrust out his arms with his fingers spread wide.

"Burning daggers!" Cried Naruto as a knife blade of fire shot forth from each his clawed finger tips. The daggers of fire ripped though the air, with the usual wispy smoke trail behind them. The daggers stabbed deep into the centipedes, where they burning and crackled causing the colossal insects to screech and writhe as the fire dug further into their bodies. Just as Naruto though he had finally broken through their defence the daggers flickered and spluttered until they collapsed into smoke. A deep growl came from the centipedes as they shook themselves and tightened their wall, cutting deep gouges into the bridge.

"You have some interesting skills runt." Said Gathnus from behind the centipedes. "I'm almost intrigued about where you learnt such highly skilled attack, well skilled for half-breeds like you, but you have delayed us for too long. Fire!" At the command a rainfall of viscous looking foot long spikes rose high into the air, blotting out the grey sky, before arching downwards. Naruto faced the falling spikes unflinchingly; as they got nearer. Just before they impaled him Naruto rapidly sliced his hands through the air. The bridge around Naruto was pierced with hundreds of spikes while the ones that threatened to kill Naruto clattered harmless around him in small chunks, cut cleanly by his burning claws.

Naruto, retaking the offensive, sucked in a huge lungful of air leaning back to fill his lungs much as possible. He held his breath for a brief second before exhaling. A massive cone of roaring fire, even larger than the one he used against Fenris, swept across the bridge and ploughed into the centipedes. The centipedes tightened as they tried to hold back the torrent of flames, but while they held back the brunt of the attack the flames began to lick over the top of the giant insects. The immediate demons behind the centipedes were forced to crouch down as the heat from the flames bore down on them. As Naruto felt his lungs empty he swayed his head from side to side, making sure that he got every inch of the centipedes that he could.

The fire stopped blasting over his teeth and lips as he ran out of fiery breath. Just as the last wisp of flames subsided on the demon wall Naruto charged forward at a dead run. As he got nearer to the titanic demon, which up to this point had remained motionless content with just glaring at the half-demon, opened its gaping mouth. There was a sound of rushing air before a gust of thick green smog howled out of the demons mouth, straight at Naruto. The half-demon was forced to side step the attack in mid stride as the demon's breath stuck the bridge. Naruto glanced over his shoulder to see that part of the bridge surface now frothed and bubbled like molten lava and gave of a rancid stench that stung his nose. The centipedes began to uncoil themselves again but not before Naruto, in two great bounds, used them as steps to lunch him self into the air.

As he soared overhead, Naruto looked down and saw the prince, rising to his feet after crouch from the flames. He was surrounded by a number of demons that looked like wood lice, the size of an average dog. They had snub faces, complete with slack little mouths that housed tiny needle sharp teeth. A number of spikes, about half a foot long, protruded out of their smooth domed back.

As Naruto soared through the air he smiled mockingly at the prince. The prince growled in fury and Naruto saw the tips of his mandibles poke out from the corner of his lips. The lice demons around the prince quivered and their spikes we forced out of their backs, straight at Naruto. Before the spikes could reach Naruto, as he began to descend, he began his next attack.

"Burning fang!" roared Naruto as he span in the air, quickly turning in to a burning whirlwind of flame and claws. The air whipped around Naruto as he rocketed through the air, like a comet, straight at the titanic beetle demon. The demon opened its mouth, to once again exhale a gust of corrosive breath, when the ripping attack that was Naruto slammed into the side of its head. It's screamed in agony as the force of the attack made its head jar to one side and leaving deep smouldering gouges in is skin, as Naruto was sent spinning off in the other direction. The half-demon went flying over the shoulder off the huge demon. Naruto stopped his drilling attack and drove the claws on one of his hands into one of the long spikes that rose out of its back. The momentum of Naruto's attack carried him on forwards, but since he twisted completely round the huge spike, cutting deeply into it, till he came to a stop. He firmly planted his feet on the demons back as it shifted and writhed trying to shake him off. Naruto stood steady as he looked over the back ranks of the demon hoard.

The back ranks were made up of demons that were no more than over sized versions of their normal counter parts and demons that looked like some one had taken different parts of insects and merged them together with liberal use of spikes added for good measure. They were twisted and disordered and their eyes betrayed a great lack of intelligence. As Naruto watched for any incoming attacks his mind flicked back to one of his lessons at the Undercity, basic troop movement and deployment. While he did hate all lessons and training at the Undercity, this particular lesson helped him gain some insight into the prince's strategy.

It seemed that the prince had put his best troops at the front, obviously to use them as a spear head while his irregular troops eliminated anything they missed. This worked greatly in Naruto's favour as the most of troops at the front were large and would have a hard time hitting a small fast moving enemy.

One of the more ferocious looking demons in the back ranks snarled and hissed, assuming command since orders from the prince could not reach them and pointed a spiked appendage at Naruto. The demons began to climb the back of the huge beetle demon, crying out for Naruto's blood. A bombardment of fireballs kept the demons at bay but Naruto knew that he would either be overwhelmed or attacked from behind by the elite demons. The monster Naruto was perched on increased it's bucking forcing Naruto to grip harder onto the spike as the bridge underneath the demon cracked and sagged as the steel with in the bridge began to bend. As the wild movements continued Naruto looked past the back of the horde.

The section connecting the bridge to the mainland was still not complete, although it was strong enough to support the horde's weight. It still had construction equipment on it and Naruto took note of three pieces in particular. At on side, propped up against a bent rail, was a small cement mixer while on the other side was a medium sized crane. The last piece of equipment was a large fuel tank, that as used to refuel machinery at the different parts of the bridge, that had a large gash in the side of it. Its contents had spilled out and seeped from one side of the bridge to the other.

Naruto grinned as he had another flash of inspiration. Two balls of fire formed in his hands as Naruto gave them a little more power causing them to grow slightly in size. He pelted the two fireballs straight over heads of the on coming demons, who dumbly watch the orbs, streak over head.

The fire balls slammed into the construction equipment making them disappear in a huge flash of fire accompanied by a deafening blast of sound. The explosion rocked the bridge as the spilt fuel ignited and engulfed the bridge in a massive wall of fire, threatening to devourer anyone who dares tries to get through it. Deadly jagged pieces of shrapnel, along with large burning chunks of concrete, were sent flying in all directions. The back line of the hoard almost feel as one as they were cut down by the deadly burning barrage, while other in the middle of the back ranks were randomly killed by the debris as it plummeted towards the bridge and the water.

"Gotcha!" said Naruto in triumph, as he had cut off any option of escape that the hoard my have had. As the demons scrambled out of the way of the falling debris Naruto crouched down on the giant demon's back and began to pitch forwards.

"Burning fang!" he road and with a powerful push of his legs he once again launched him self forwards and span turning into a lethal maelstrom of fire and claws. Naruto ripped through the air, sending small flames as he span, before cutting deep into the back ranks of the hoards. His attack continued its deadly course as he sliced and shredded his way through the demons, cutting deep into their flesh and sending all manner of organs and limbs into the midday air. Naruto carved a blazing trench into the bridge surface, littered with the mangled bodies of the demons, while the others clung to the side of the bridge, quailing away from the fury and heat of his attack. He cut deeper into the horde and as he stopped travelling Naruto used the momentum of his attack to continue rotating rapidly on one foot, like a spinning top.

"Burning slash!" called out Naruto as he span on the spot he stretched out his arms sending out lines of fire from the tips of his claws. Several demons were sliced into pieces while the rest quickly stepped back, giving the half-demon some space. Naruto stopped spinning and fell into his fighting stance, with eyes and ears wary of the inevitable attack.

Naruto could hear his heart pounding in his chest as he waited for what felt like minutes, but was in reality a few seconds, as the demons hissed and threatened but none made an attempt to attack. Naruto felt a flicker of movement to his left; he snapped his head round and saw a demon with a gaping mouth, filled with dozens of short needle pointed teeth and an extraordinarily long tongue, charging towards him. Naruto pivoted on his left leg and brought his flaming right foot smashing into the demon's chin. The kick carried the demon into the air as its jaw snapped shut, biting painfully into its own tongue. Naruto then jumped and kicked the demon again in the chin with his left foot. The kick forced the demon's jaw up higher making it bite clean through its tongue, which hit the bridge and flopped around like a dieing fish, while its owner sailed higher. Naruto turned with the direction of kick in a summersault and landed on his hands.

The demons, now feeling braver and infuriated, rushed the blond half-demon as he began to spin on his hands.

"Blazing windmill!" called Naruto, as he stretched out his legs as he span faster. The demons that had jumped at Naruto were sent flying backwards into their allies from the force of the attack. The half-demon span faster and faster and soon he reach such a speed that his flame covered feet blurred to form a ring of fire. Waves of heat washed out from the blond as tiny flames began to fly off his feet. The insects were forced back, some against the rails or against each other, as they were showered by the tiny flames, covering them in scorch marks and blisters. A pearly white grin could be seen from the spinning blur as Naruto had caused disarray in the demon horde, stopping them in their tracks.

Smoke rose form underneath Naruto's hands as he bent his arms and brought his legs in. Before the demons could slash at the half-demon with their claws Naruto pushed off. He shot into to the air, rapidly spinning like a corkscrew as the bottom of his coat flapped around his ears, straight at the descending demon he had kick in to the air. The sound of crunching and a cut of yelp filled Naruto's ears as his feet bore into the demon, shattering its hard exoskeleton and searing its innards. The demon gave one last groan before sliding of Naruto's feet and plummeting back towards the bridge, as Naruto went higher. The spin slowed and Naruto shifted in the air so that he was right side up. As he reached the top of his jump, before he would begin his descent, Naruto sucked in another great breath. As he fell Naruto heard the sound of something racing towards him. With a heaving chest he twisted round to face the village and he saw it. Another barrage of twisted spikes had been sent up from the front of the hoard; no doubt the prince was becoming even more infuriated by the resilience of the blond fire fox.

With no time to think Naruto blew another gigantic jet of fire from his mouth, and reduced the spikes to cinders. But since he did not have his feet planted the blast of fire that came from his mouth continued to push Naruto through the air, towards the end of the bridge that met the mainland. He quickly twisted again to face the bridge and began hosing down the hoard with fire. Large groups of demons disappeared in the stream of fire but even with the number he had killed already Naruto, now only really realizing just how big the army is, was only delaying it at the moment.

His lungs emptied and Naruto began to fall towards the confused demons. As soon as his feet touched the surface Naruto began lashing out with his claws and feet. After he cut down a few demons Naruto sprang forward, over the heads of other demons, landed and instantly renewed his attack. It was a simple plan that was excellent for delaying a large number of enemies. Naruto would attack a few demons and before they could retaliate he would jump away and attack new groups that were unprepared for him. Naruto was in his element. With the organization of the horde shattered he was free to savagely shred demons before dashing away to attack others. Naruto's claws and coat became heavily blood stained as he cut large gaps in the demon ranks, like a scythe cutting wheat. The fire around Naruto's hands and feet grew in ferocity as he continued his almost frenzied attack while more smoke billowed up from beneath him.

Naruto had just pulled his claws out of the back of a demon when another one with a huge mouth that constantly salivated clamped its jaws around his right arm. The large insect cried in pain and surprise as its teeth met the hardened metal armguard that Naruto wore underneath his coat. Several teeth fell out of its mouth as Naruto stabbed underneath his arm with his free hand and priced the demons throat with his claws. With both his hands occupied Naruto was vulnerably and one demon saw this and charged at his exposed back. Using the dieing demon to balance, Naruto thrust his leg out and ploughed it into the chest of the charging opponent. The demons mouth opened wide as it was sent flying backwards while Naruto freed his arms.

The fire fox readied himself to leap at his next opponents when he heard something large moving towards him in his blind spot. He spun round to face the opportunist enemy and prepared a fireball. Naruto's eye widened and his ears pricked up as he saw that the enemy was in fact one of the huge centipedes form the front of the hoard. The giant insect had partially un warped its self, leaving the rear end still wrapped round the middle of the bridge, and was now barrelling towards the half-demon with its mandibles stretched out like spears. Naruto hurled his fireball right at the demons head. The burning ball slammed into the centipede in a flash of fire but it did nothing to slow the charge of the monster.

Naruto dived to the side as the centipede slammed into the bridge with a thud, its mandibles gouging deep into the concrete, sending debris flying before carrying on its course. Naruto watched as the demon ploughed through its own allies and raised high into the air to turn and face the blond half-demon, clicking its mandibles threateningly. Naruto crouched low and waited for the next charge.

It was only a whisper of a sound but Naruto's long ears heard it. He jumped back at an angle, just in time to doge the second centipede as it slammed in to the bridge, its mandibles also digging deep into the bridge. The erratic nature of his jump caused Naruto to fly back further than he had intended. Naruto was just able to garb onto the guard rail with one hand and bring his legs towards his chest. Naruto's feet touched the rail, which had already begun to melt and sag from his flames, and he squatted looking straight at the centipedes. The one that had its mandibles jammed in the bridge pulled back and freed its self, although it did have two large chunks of concrete stuck to its mandibles which it promptly smashed to pieces by bringing in its fangs.

Both demon now faced Naruto and hissed angrily. Naruto stuck out his tongue and blew a long wet raspberry. The scorched centipede roared and flew towards Naruto with the speed of a train. As it charged forward Naruto let go of the rail and fell backwards.

All Naruto saw was the grey sky hanging over the village before his tails whipped out and grabbed the rail as the demon flew over where he just was. The demon was now stretched out over the water and hissing angrily for missing its target once again. It twisted its powerful body to look back towards the bridge. It looked at Naruto for a brief moment before roaring, giving Naruto a good view of the horrid teeth in its mouth, and barrelled towards the hanging half-demon. Naruto's eye widen as he realized that he had no where to go. If he stayed he would be speared by the incoming bug but he would surely also be similarly killed by the centipede waiting up top.

With his coat bottom dangling around his ears Naruto began frantically looking around for anything that could save him. He caught a glimpse of something shiny in the corner of his eye and twisted himself to have a better look. It was a long steel support bar that was attached to the bridge by a huge sturdy clamp with a thick bolt fixing it in place. Naruto's mouth curled slightly into n amused smile as he realized that his salvation may only be there because of a delay in the construction of the bridge.

Naruto bent his back and saw, with a thankful heart, that the underside scaffolding had not been removed. With the demon bearing down on him rapidly closing the distance Naruto curled up towards his feet, stabbing his claws into the side of the bridge. With his claws firmly dug into the bridge Naruto's tails released their grip and he unfurled so that he was now hanging from his claws. Naruto swung his legs forward and pulled his claws out of the bridge. The scaffolding gave an unsteady lurch as Naruto landed on the wooden base and an even greater shake as the bridge was rocked by the burned centipede ploughing into the side before ripping a huge chunk of concrete as it retreated back onto the bridge.

The blond was almost grateful enough to kiss the cold steel and wood structure. The scaffolding severed as way for the workers to check every inch of the bridge as well as take some of the weigh of the bridge legs as ton upon ton of concrete was poured into place. Four sturdy legs, bolted to the side of the bridge, held two connecting platforms of steel in place which provided a base to seat large wooden planks for the workers to walk on. The scaffolding was finished with four extra support poles, one on each corner attached below the suspending legs, clamped around thick, round bridge legs with a tight metal band held in palace with a huge bolt. ( I know nothing about bridge building so please don't make a big fuss the bit about the "scaff". It's there to aid the story. Thanks)

Naruto smiled to himself. With one move he had given himself a strategic position and had halted the progress of the hoard, any leader worth his salt knew the basic battle principles and one of them, which Fenris had hammered into Naruto, was 'never leave an enemy behind you'. Naruto was so busy congratulating himself that he almost did not hear the centipede rushing up from underneath him. Naruto leapt up and dug his claws into the bottom of the bridge as the demon came bursting through the base of the platform with the sound of metal being twisted and rent apart, sending metal chunks and massive splinters of wood flying in all directions.

Naruto braced his legs against the bridge bottom and looked at the demon with a burning glare. The two centipedes had snuck behind him and had coiled themselves around two of the legs of the bridge. Even though each one was coiled round a separate leg he could tell that that was only the front half as the rest of them stretched back on to the surface of the bridge. Naruto let go with his claws and jumped backwards, towards the outer most frame of the scaffolding which had mercifully still remained intact, despite the main platform had been smashed.

In a flash Naruto grabbed a broken section of a girder in his burning hand and hurled it at the demons. While the centipedes could have easily dodged the flying metal they had not counted on the fireball that Naruto through after it. The fireball struck the metal just as it reached the air between the demon's heads. Searing metal shards showered the soft unprotected faces of the demons making them writhe and twist as they screeched through the air, preoccupied as they were they did not notice the half-demon jump from his supporting platform and sail through the air towards them. Naruto twisted himself in mid air and kicked one leg out forward while thrusting the other out to the side. Each demon was struck with a burning foot in a devastating split kick (I don't think that's the proper name for that type of kick. Ah well). The demons reeled back from the force of the kick while Naruto span in the air before landing precariously on the side of the weakened platform.

Without a second thought he jump towards one of the legs of the bridge, which a centipede was wrapped round. While the demon tried to shake out of its unsteadiness Naruto landed on the bridge leg and stabbed the claws of one of his hands into the bridge leg. With his claws still in the bridge he turned to face down at the demon and brought his free hand up.

"Burning Slash!" he roared as he swung his claws at the demons legs. His claws swiped across the spiked legs but did nothing more than scratched the surface of the carapace. Naruto growled in anger, the ritual potion they have been using had made their armour unbelievably strong. Before Naruto could think of away to penetrate it, the second demon had already recovered and had once again tried to spear the fox half-demon on its mandibles. Once again it was Naruto's quick reactions that saved him as he leaped back towards the platform just avoiding the centipede's mandibles.

"Damn it. I'm tired of getting double teamed." Growled Naruto as he landed on the now unstable platform. Naruto formed two fireballs and prepared to throw them. His eye settled on the demon that had just tried to impale him when he noticed that the other demon had stretched out forward and he could no longer see its head. Naruto instantly knew what was going to happen and jump into the air. The remainder of the platform was blasted apart as the centipede burst through the platform, like a shark breaking the surface of the ocean. Naruto covered his face with his arms to guard against the long splinters that had been thrown up in the air, but a piece of wood shot past his face and sliced open his cheek.

Naruto felt himself begin to fall as the warm blood trickled down his face. He prepared himself to fell the cold hard surface of the river below when he felt a painful lurch in his shoulders and found himself flying backwards. He looked up and saw that the second centipede had been ready and had tried to stab Naruto in midair but missed and was now pulling Naruto through the air by the bottom of his coat that was now above him. The centipede smashed into one of the bridge legs and Naruto was slammed painfully into the concrete support. His back throbbed as his head was flooded with pain, Naruto was barely aware of what was happening and started reaching out for anything he could hold onto. His hand found something solid and Naruto looked around and saw that he had grabbed a small metal rod that had been embedded into the leg after it had been thrown from the demon attacks.

Naruto shook his head as his vision came back into focus. The sigh he saw was the second centipede coming towards him to deliver the finale blow. Naruto could see the bloodlust in its beady little green eye as it bore down him while the other held him in place. With a snarl Naruto pulled the rod out of the bridge leg and twirled in his hands before hurling it at the oncoming demon. The rod whistled through the air as it turned end over end. There was a squelch followed by a howl as the rod became buried in the demons eye. Green blood gush from the wound as the demon started to screech and writhe, causing to smash itself against the bridge in agony.

With one demon out of the way Naruto turned his attention back to the one that had him pinned by his coat. Naruto swung a burning foot up into the bottom of the centipede's mouth. The kick sent the demon smashing into the bridge above and pulling its mandibles out of the support leg, allowing Naruto to move again. The demon shook itself as Naruto pushed off and lunged towards the giant invertebrate. One of Naruto's tails wrapped round one of the demons leg and he swung himself up onto the back of his opponent. The half-demon positioned himself just behind the head and prepared to strike, targeting the gap between the ultra strong segmented carapace. However before Naruto could deliver a killing blow the centipede rushed upwards, heading directly for the underside of the bridge.

Naruto quickly dropped onto his front and rolled to the side. As he did so he grabbed one of the spike tipped legs just as the furious demon slammed into the bridge once again, this time making large fragments fall. With nowhere else to go Naruto swung himself underneath the centipede. He was no safer than he was with the threat of falling rocks as he now faced impalement from the demons legs. He gripped fiercely with one hand while his tails wrapped around two more of the demon's legs. Even though he had restrained some of the legs the spiked limbs still flailed and stabbed around him as he braced his legs against the demons underbelly.

Using his free hand Naruto began slashing at the demon's underneath with his burning claws while dodging the legs. Slash after slash yielded nothing apart from some shallow scratches and a shower of sparks in the half-demon's face. He pulled his hand back ready to strike when he felt a mass of pain in his left arm, which held one of the demon's legs. He turned his heads and he saw a blood stained leg and a deep gash in his shoulder. Naruto snarled in anger and small flames escaped from between his clench teeth. He faced the demon's underbelly again and ready to swing his claws once more, determined to break through the armour. As he swung his claws he noticed something in between the segments of carapace, soft flesh. Flesh that was unprotected, that he had missed before. Naruto changed his attack in mid swing for a slice to a thrust and plunged his claws in between the demon skin. Green blood gushed over his hand and arm as the demon howled in shock and pain.

The flames covering the blood soaked hand flared brightly as the demon screamed louder.

"Burning daggers!" cried Naruto as the burning blades shot from his finger deep inside the demon. He fire volley upon volley into the centipede which jerked and buckled as the knives of flame ripped though its body only to bounce back of its skin to cause more horrid damage. Smoke rose for between the segments when the demon suddenly stiffened. A burst of blood shot from the centipede's maw, which splattered against the bridge leg, followed by a gushing stream of blood and cindered innards. The demon went limp as its unfurled itself from the bridge.

Naruto quickly swung himself on the now dead demon's back and began to run. Naruto ran hurriedly as his only way back on the bridge surface was quickly disappearing from underneath him. Naruto jumped on to the part of the demon that was still wrapped round the bridge leg and quickly climbed up it. The half-demon raced along the rest of the demon back. Naruto could now see the top of the bridge and saw that the demons where beginning to move again. His eye fixed on the back of Gathnus as he reached the end of the centipede's body. As the last of the giant insect's body slipped off the bridge, down towards the water, Naruto lunched himself at the Prince with both his feet aiming at the back of his head.

Gathnus avoided the dropkick by simply moving his head to one side, which made Naruto sail over his shoulder. Naruto landed just in front of the demon prince crouched on all four. Uncoiling like a spring Naruto span to face the demon price and swung his right leg at his head. The prince raised one arm and blocked the kick, with seemingly little effort, and grabbed Naruto's ankle. Gathnus grinned wickedly as he smashed his right fist into Naruto's gut. Salvia sprayed from Naruto's mouth as the punch painfully forced all the air out of his body. Gathnus carried the punch through and let go of Naruto's ankle, sending the half-demon flying backwards. Naruto hit the bridge and rolled backwards painfully until he dug his claws into the bridge, cutting deeply, before grinding to a halt. Naruto looked up and saw that the prince had sent him backwards quite a distance. He took long ragged breaths as he tried to get to his feet. His legs buckled and fell back to his knees and his head pulsed with pain.

"Well I must say your Undercity must have trained you well, for a pathetic mongrel." Mocked the prince. Naruto's head shot up, surprise evident across his whiskered face. "It's obvious that you are not some run of the mill Halfling. You know how to use your demon chakra more than one like you should and you have a basic, a very basic, grasp of tactics. But even the might of real Undercity demon could not hope to stand against me. And I'm going enjoy the screams of the Undercity lords when they realize I have taken this miserable village from them." And with this the prince through back his head and laughed.

"I don't belong to an Undercity." Said Naruto as he got to his feet. It was the prince's turn to look surprised. "Me and my friend did belong to one by were left. And they have no interest in this village but we do. It is precious to use and we are not going to let you harm a single person in it!" Naruto was now stood up and he looked the prince dead in his green eyes.

"A few borrowed tricks won't be enough to save you this village." sneered Gathnus. The demons behind the prince ready themselves to attack with their full force. A grin spread across Naruto's face.

"Me and Fenris don't just use what they taught use. We have ticks of our own." The prince's face twisted into a snarl until a strange his noise filled his ears. He looked down and saw that the bridge where the half-demon had been was now glowing red and thin wisp of smoke rose up. The hissing grew louder and the prince looked behind him, his eye widen in shock. Every where the half-demon had touched now glowed red, some were no more that foot step but a large section of the bridge, currently occupied by back ranks of the hoards, was completely glowing and hissing violently building up to something dreadful.

"MOVE!" ordered the prince. There was a deafening noise made by the horde as the demons scrambled to get away form the impending explosion. There was a horrific detonation as the section connecting the bridge to the mainland disappeared in a flash of fire and dust. A great chorus of screams were silenced in an instance as the back ranks were consumed by the explosion. The blast almost knocked Naruto off his feet as the bridge shook violently and large cracks formed in the surface. Naruto, with ears ringing, felt a great pang of guilt as he looked up and saw a billowing cloud of black smoke and dust rising high into the air. In one attack he had destroyed something that had taken weeks of hard work and determination of so many in just a second. Naruto tired to tell himself that if he could save the rest of the bridge that damage would not be so bad but he knew that was not true.

Even though he had just killed a large number of demons the prince and the elite of the hoard still remained, even the giant gas breathing beetle had survived the blast. Hot rocks now fell down upon the bridge and Naruto realized that the fight was going to get a lot more intense for here on it. Naruto redirected his eyes to demons and saw the prince looking at him in fury. A section of his stolen skin had been ripped off revealing the carapace underneath.

"Burning coals." Said Naruto. The prince continued to glare at him. "It's a trap technique that is done by forcing my flames into object and causing them to release their energy. Or something like that. It was Fenris who told me how it worked. Not bad for a 'mongrel'." Naruto grinned at the prince as he shook with anger. Gathnus was about to open his mouth when a tremendous crash reverberated through the air. The demons and Naruto looked towards the mainland and saw in the distance, right where the brood was stationed, huge bolts of lighting crashing down to the earth below.

"Told you my friend would keep your mother busy." Naruto was relived on the inside. Fenris would have full attention of the queen and he knew there was no chance of any help arriving for the prince, especially with a large section of the bridge destroyed. Naruto looked again at the prince and grinned. "Let's do this!" he said as his flames flared up as he took his stance, ready to fight on to the end.

Thanks for reading and I would love to hear what you thought of this chapter. If you thought it was good tell me and if you thought it was bad tell me and I'll make improvements. (this one was a pain to get right and there are still parts I don't like. But If I try and fix it too much I'll break it more.)

Thank you all for reading.

Stuntbutt.


	6. Chapter 6

That way part 4

That way part 4. (Last chapter was part 3)

Hi everybody. Once again I must apologize to every one who has read and is waiting on a new chapter. There I a good reason for this, other than my own laziness, I have just started work and my free time is cut considerable compared to what it used to be. I get up at six and get home a five smelling of steel. ( I work in a shipyard). But I will continue this fic until the end and I will not skimp on any aspect of the story, I don't like doing things half-arsed.

Also this fic, if I haven't said already, is going to be very long, not including any sequels or side stories.

Before I start on this new chapter I will be answering the last lot of reviews. Once again I thank you all so much for giving me feedback both positive and negative.

While no one hated the last fight some commented that it was a bit wordy and some what slow, at lest compared to the first chapter. I must say that I agree with you, I was really worried about the bridge battle as I wrote as it did seem to go slower. But I feel that the next half of the fight is going to be a lot better, hopefully more like the first chapter.

And of course I'd like to thank my beta Randomxer-pl who as always has been a big help.

Also in some review their have been mentions of my chapters or fight being too long. Well I'm going to have to apologize to those people who think I put too much in one chapter. I start a chapter with a loose idea of what is to happen in mind and I go from there the result is a long chapter, hopefully all good stuff with no crap. As for the fight most of them are going to be very big, dramatic and taking up most of the chapter that they are in. And just so every one knows some fights in the true story will be changed. Basically I'm going to ramped up, a good example would be the Naruto and Garaa fight in the chunnin arc, it's going to be big.

Now the more detailed response to reviews.

To.

Ero-kun: You said that you did not want Hinata to be a stuttering weirdo and that It would be a confession and instant love. Well I can only do half of what you ask. Im going to try to keep the characters on the original how there meant to be until I have good reason to change anything e,g Hinata at first will be shy and stuttering but that is before Naruto and Fenris get to the leaf. Also it won't be instant love. You'll get to see (or read) the first steps of friendship then love. All Naruto and Hinata's relationship need is a bit of a shove and the person doing the shoving in this fic wears big metal boots. Also every one is going to have to wait for Hinata, and most of the leaf ninja, to make an appearance.

Dragon man 180: Thanks for your suggestions. I might not use all of them as I have most of the fight planned out, just taken a while to write it. But Naruto will be using a lot of the surroundings in the fight. ( I like hardcore wrestling a bit, well quite a lot actually.)

Paulrap Raptor: I like the idea of Naruto and Fenris singing. Princes of the universe is one of my favorite songs, actually Queen is one of my favorite bands ever. Out of interest who or what is your half-demon character then?

Ikasury: im glad you like half-demons as there are going to be more in this fic. You asked about Naruto and Fenris's parentages whether or not either of them are the sealed demons. Well I'll tell you now both Naruto and Fenris's parents are human. And the demon inside Fenris is one that I have come up with although I don't actually have a name for him yet.

Shadow Werewolf: you asked why the Prince's army didn't move when Naruto was under the bridge. Well I what I had in mind was that It is a bad idea to move on when you have an enemy behind you, but I supposes I didn't do a really good job of portraying that.

To every one else thank you ever so much for your support and I hope you'll enjoy reading the rest of this fic as I post it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. (But Fenris is mine) 

Let's get this show on the road…MWHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH. Back on form. WOOF!

This was the second time in the day that Naruto had stood defiant in the prince's path but unlike the last time the arrogance that had been so plain on the prince's face had gone. It was now replaced with hated, rage and, from what Naruto could tell, fear. The demons behind the prince, except the elephant beetles and the titanic gas breathing abomination, all stood behind their prince and leader. They ran their sharpened claws over each other and hissed menacingly, trying to look intimidating, but shifted nervously where they stood.

Naruto's ear flicked and several demons at the front started backwards. Naruto smirked as he saw the blatant fear in the hoard, no doubt due to the fact that one half-demon had caused as much damage to them as a small army. Despite all his boasting of power the prince seemed to be at much of a loss as his troops as to what to do. The blonde whirlwind of fire and claws had just obliterated a large number of his demons and was now just standing there, and it was taking all of Naruto's self control just to keep from charging back into the demons with fire flying and claws flailing.

Naruto had been friends with Fenris with so long that each of them where in each others heads. Naruto was almost sure that he should use the advantage of surprise and attack again but the mental image of Fenris was telling him that confused and panicky enemies are a blessing in that they are more likely to make mistakes.

"You just blew half of them apart and they'll expect you to attack right away, they'll be ready for it or at least the prince will." said the image of Fenris in Naruto's head. So the fire-fox decide to do something unpredictable for someone like him; he waited. Naruto lowered his arms to his sides, but still keep his fire burning, and exhaled as he lowered his head and closed his eyes. His long ears heard a short snort of disbelieve and anger followed by a growl form the increasingly riled prince.

The fire fox smiled inwardly as his improvised plan of forcing a move from the prince was working. Naruto had thought that the random lessons from Fenris, which the storm wolf had called "intimidation and taunting 101", were useless in battle, but now they were proving to be very useful. Naruto decided to see if he could push the prince into an ill planed attack. He raised his head and looked straight forward with a cool look, somewhere between dismissal and contempt, that really made belligerent people angry, Naruto knew this all too well as it always worked on him.

As he looked at the prince, who was now beginning to froth at the mouth, dead into his compound eye Naruto felt a sensation that he had only felt twice before. When it first happened Naruto thought it was just the effect of the mediation that he was made to do in the Undercity but then he remembered his mind was too erratic to meditate.

No this was different. He felt hot but not from the fire of his hands and feet, this felt like it was coming from his belly. It writhed and twisted, like something struggling against restraints. Part of it squirmed free and began to move up his body. The hotness was now sliding and slowly snaking its way up his spine as if it was submerging itself into his very being as it went up. It was between his shoulders blades and Naruto had to fight the urge to move his shoulders back to quash it, unless he wanted the demons to use it as an opening. It seeped up his neck, making the hairs stand up as much as the hair on his head as it found its way to the base of his skull and it pushed. Naruto instinctively tried to push back with his mind even thought he did not know if such a thing was possible. The heat pressed experimentally against the force of the fox half-demon's mind then gave and shove. And it was in.

Naruto suddenly felt like his conscience mind had been pushed aside and something else was using his body, mostly his eyes. He still saw every thing in front of him but he took none of it in almost as if he was half asleep. But the rest of his sense told him that he was wide awake. In the very instant the heat had claimed domination and taken over his eyes he suddenly felt, smelt, tasted and heard everything on the bridge.

He could feel a tiny bead of sweat run down the side of face, over the pours in his skin, as it was cooled by the wind. Naruto winced slightly as he felt pain from his cheek and leg. The tiny cuts now felt like his skin and been ripped as he felt the minuscule jagged edges of the wounds as his blood pulsed over them and ran towards the ground. With every breath he could tastes every fleck of as and dust as the wind brought it to his mouth. He could smell the smoke rising from the fires, the blood staining the surface of the bridge and Naruto was almost sure he could smell the fear on the demons in front of him and the hate emanating from the prince. He could hear his heart beat with in his chest each beat sounding like a great drum being repeatedly smashed in frantic rhythm, so loud was his heart that it almost engulfed any other sound on the bridge.

The only other thing that Naruto could hear was a sound of deep cavernous breathing, belonging to something far larger than anything on the bridge, even the titanic beetle. The blonde concentrated on this sound and he heard dripping water and the sound of metal being shook by the huge breaths. It chuckled, who ever was laughing at this moment sounded ancient, powerful and full of restrained violence. The laughing stopped and it snorted saying a single word dripping with contempt.

"Maggots."

Naruto's stomach gave a lurch and suddenly his veins were on fire as raw power coursed through them. It slammed round his body, rattling his bones and tossing his organs, as it raced to fill his body. Naruto's eyes widened as his muscles locked firm, almost like they were on the point of ripping apart, and smoke rose freely form his mouth. Sweat dripped down his face as the power kept growing; searing his nerves though his body. He mentally fought against the pain as he tried to control his flames, if he lost control of them while this strange power tore his insides apart he could explode, he had heard other half-demons talk about it happening to full demons be he had never really given it much though until now. The muscles in his hands began to lock out but Naruto held on with every last ounce of his resolve to curl back his fingers, to keep his flames, but even with his boundless determination and stubbornness, his fingers locked straight and the power filled him.

Just when he though he about to explode Naruto's stomach gave another lurch and he felt the immense energy sweep out of him in a massive red tinged wave of energy that washed over the entire bridge, breathing new ferocious life into the many fires that littered the bridge, consuming what ever they could. With a great breath Naruto feel to his knees and steadied himself on his hands as his tails lay limp on the bridge while his ears drooped. Where had that power come from? Power like that was only possible form demons of the highest order but yet that same kind of power had just come form inside of him, feeling like it was going to destroy him as it broke free. Naruto's mind swam in circles searching for an explanation as his body began to settle back to normal.

Prince Gathnus, Skin taker, seducer and devourer of women and soon to be ruler of his own empire was afraid. The pathetic half-breed, on his knees before him once again, had just released a wave of pure power of such magnitude that if the filthy fox had formed it into an attack it would have wiped his army out of existence. Living in a brood were power shifted quickly Gathnus had good experience of controlling his expression, either his or that of his stolen skin, so not to let anyone know what he was thinking. He had fawned and flattered his mother even as he envisioned pulling off her loathsome head. He had held his rage when he and the brood were turned away by the Horn, and he had even kept his well rehearsed veneer of confidence and power when the mongrel named Naruto slaughtered his troops. Even if they were only grunts the speed at which they fell was unthinkable. The hair on the back his stolen skin stood up, due the prince's blood mixed with the skin to keep it alive, when an unnerving thought slowly grew with in his mind. What if the Undercities had taught all their low class warriors like this? His army had been enhanced by the potion but if his enemies had this kind of strength, and no doubt more powerful warriors, he would lose everything before he had chance to sit on his throne.

The prince growled in irritation, he had to use it. He was hoping to save it for the attack on the Undercity and for his mother but the situation had forced his had. The stranger who had given the brood the potion had secretly given the prince two more gifts to aid him; evidently the stranger saw greatness when they saw it and knew he would soon succeed his mother. The prince scanned his front line looking for a suitable 'assistant' when one presented its self. A sniveling mantis demon, visibly shaking with fear, looked to the prince nervously rubbing its claws together.

"My prince we must retreat. This enemy is too strong we can not hope to take the village. We must retreat back to the safety of the hive were the queen can protect us." The demon stood shaking as the prince stared coldly at him. Gathnus's mouth twitched into a sly grin, to which the mantis began to shaken even more at the sight of it.

"You'll do." Said the prince and his arm shoot out and grabbed the smaller demon by the throat in a crushing grasp. Gathnus lifted the demon of the bridge and held it in front of him and took a firm hold of an arm with his free hand. There was a horribly slow cracking noise followed by a sickening tearing noise and finally a wet splatter as the prince slowly pulled of the demons arm. The Mantis screamed and the surrounding demons shrank back from the prince. The screams grew louder as the prince took the demon's own sickle like arm and carved a circle, about the size of a human's hand, and began speaking in a language that had not been spoken for centuries as he craved twisting symbols around the now bleeding circle.

Naruto felt his body return to normal as he slowly began to rise to his feet with shuddering movements. He had gotten one foot flat on the bridge in a kneeling position when he became aware of a terrible shrieking. He looked up and saw the prince doing something awful to a writhing mantis, which was missing an arm, and speaking in a strange language, a language that sounded old and powerful but he found that on the fridges of his mind that the knew the words that were being spoken and that it did not mean anything good of the himself or the Wave. The prince stopped speaking, through away the arm and opened his mouth, the bottom jaw descended more than a human's could and the prince's mandibles stretched out.

The mandibles snapped out and dug them selves into the mantis's neck. Blood gushed from the edges of the wounds as the needle sharp ends suck up all that they could. The mantis writhed and twitched as its green skin dulled, eventually turning a pale grey. The mandibles pulled out and the prince gave a huge gulp as he through the husk away.

"I'm going to give all of you pathetic insects a taste of real power." Shouted the prince and with that two long spines of his carapace flicked up, ripping the skin along his back in long slices, and stuck point off the back of his shoulders, revealing pink flesh dripping with clear ichors. The flesh was dotted with thousands of tiny holes that opened and closed in time with the prince's breathing. (Some insects, if not most of them, breathe through holes in their backs)

Gathnus took in a huge breath and exhaled, but it was not just air that came out, a heavy green mist billowed out of his back and engulfed the hoard, obscuring it from Naruto's sight. He hastily got to his feet, ignoring his shaking muscles, and watched the now enshrouded hoard with searching eyes. The only demons that he could see were the prince, with his usually smirk, the six elephant beetle and the huge gas spewing behemoth, all standing tall above the other demons.

There was a movement at the front of the smog as one of the many mantis demons stumbled forwards. Its claws were at is stomach as it convulsed, as if it was trying to bring something up. And it did bring something up.

With a great retch a torrent of green blood spewed from its tiny mouth and flowed freely onto the concrete. It writhed and twitched for a moment, and then the demon became steady and growled as it looked at Naruto. The fire-fox realized what the prince had done as more and more of the low ranked demons came out of the smog, now frothing blood and taking deep ragged breathes. He had driven them insane. Any tactics that would be used to weaken the moral of an army would not work, for Naruto stood along against an army of insane, blood lust driven berserkers.

More of the enraged demons edged nearer the front of the fog in shambling steps, twitching and groaning as the fog seeped into their bodies removing any semblance of thought and replacing it with ferocious insanity. Naruto growled in frustration, his original plan of tearing chunks out of the hoard had been completely stopped the demon's bloodlust. A stream of vulgarities and curse words came from Naruto's mouth as he realized he had to completely change tactics and dig his heels in and stop them head on, he absolutely hate fighting like that. It was more the thing Fenris could do, not him. But there was no point in dwelling on it thought Naruto, not with the lives of so many good people in his fiery hand. Determination shone again in his deep blue eyes and he quickly stepped into his stance, making his coat whip in the air as the flames surroundings his hands blazed into mini infernos, illuminating his face with an awesome light.

The gas infused demons all focused on the light and the light's wielder with almost child like curiosity before they began to growl, spraying the ground with frothy blood and stamping their feet and flailing their clawed arms. And as one they charged, and Naruto opened fire.

The blond hurled a sizzling fireball straight at the lead demon. The mantis made not attempted to evade as it, and several others nearby, were engulfed in an explosion and their remains scattered in all directions. This only enraged the demons further in their desired to rip the half-demon apart and began to clamber over each other or cut through the wounded and the dieing. Naruto now hurled numerous fireballs, bombarding the bridge will hellish explosions and filling the air with the smell of smoke and burning flesh. But the demons drew closer, barely unhindered by the blonde's furious attack. Naruto shot out his arms and stretched his fingers.

"Burning dagger!" shouted Naruto and he fires volleys of searing blades into the unstoppable mass. The daggers sliced burning holes through many demons before dieing out in puffs of smoke, but the demons ignored missing limbs and deep cuts, no matter how many he fired into them they just kept coming.

When they were barely fifteen feet away form him, Naruto spotted fires on either side of the bridge just in front of him. With out time to think he pointed his hands at the fires and focused. The fires glowed deep crimson as Naruto connect with them and fed his power into them. The demons were close now and Naruto was wide open. The fire fox began to count down the distance in his head.

Thirteen feet, too soon, they'll change their attack. The sweat of intense mental work started to form on his brow underneath the goggles adorning his head. The two fires slowly began to rotate as Naruto manipulated them into the shape that he wanted.

Nine feet, just a little more. The demons were salivating now and Naruto could easily see the now bloody mixture drip down. The center of the fires now glowed as Naruto forced enough energy into them.

Six feet, NOW, the demons in the front raised theirs claws ready to slice and cleave the defenseless half breed. With a roar of effort Naruto brought his hands together in a loud clap that made fire bulge out from between his hands. Instantly the two fires at the sides of the bridge reared up high as massive columns while two walls of flame shot out and slammed together, engulfing several demons in the process, and formed and all consuming barrier.

"Halt, halt. HALT! You miserable worms." Roared the prince but to no avail. His minions rushed fearlessly, as was his intention, in to the hungry wall of fire. Only to be set ablaze, fall to the ground before being reduced to ash and smoke, while screaming. And with each demonic bonfire Naruto smiled in victory, his wall doing its job at holding back the tide of horrors. The only concern Naruto had was would he be able to continue the strenuous flow of energy that fed the fire or would his body give out and be swarmed under. His arms were shaking now, struggling to handle the flow of energy to control the wall, as more and more demons incinerated themselves trying to penetrate the barrier when a charred corpse fell through. Naruto swore a string of foul words; the demons were coming in such volume that they were starting to smother the flames, rendering his new strategy useless. As the smoking bodies massed within the roaring wall of fire, slowly making gaps above them, Naruto took his hand apart and straightened his arms towards the wall with his facing it.

"Fire shield." Barked Naruto as the wall gave lurch and became unyielding as the demons founds them selves smashing themselves into a now solid wall of fire that still burned them. As the savage tide of demons threw theirs lives away against his wall the fire fox noticed some still had some small part of their limited intelligence remaining, as several demons had swung over the side rails and were now climbing along the bridge sides, attempting to circumvent Naruto's wall. Naruto had a nasty surprise for them. Just as the first group of demons came inline with the columns the fire fox rotated his hands away form each other and a tongue of vicious flames swept out from each column and latched to the sides, setting the clinging demons alight with dreadful screams.

The smoking corpses fell into the water with a hiss and a cloud of steam Naruto's smirk turned into a smile of victory. He had done it. He had managed to stop the hoard from swarming over the bridge and obliterating the Wave and now was preparing the attack that would finish it. With the light of the burning wall bright in his eyes Naruto began to mental form it into thousands upon thousands of burning daggers ready to be sent forth in a horrific barrage that would wipe out the demons. Naruto brought his hands back, holding the wall with his will, and held his right in front of his face with the middle and index finger pointed up, ready to be thrust forwards when the attack was ready. Just before he lunched the waiting hail storm of fire Naruto caught a glimpse of the prince and his warriors beyond the flames. He was still smiling, a knowing victorious smile. But why?

The answer came to Naruto just before it was too late. He dropped his wall and with a massive push with his legs Naruto jumped up as high as he could. A second afterwards two great spikes erupted from where he had was standing a moment ago. The spikes pushed through and were followed by the large domed head of the spiteful centipede that they belonged to. The centipede continued to plough through the bridge, after it had snuck underneath to try and catch the half-demon by surprise, sending huge chunks of bridge flying as it raced to catch the falling blonde in its jaws. Just as the beasts mandibles closed on its prey Naruto shot his legs out and wedged the crushing spikes apart, holding fast. The centipede howled in fury and rose up higher as it tried to pierce the half-demon in its mandibles but Naruto's legs stayed firmed and unmoving.

As the monstrosity shook violently, trying to shake Naruto into its snapping maw, Naruto looked over his shoulder and saw the village of the wave. It was untouched by the mist and seemed to glow with a peaceful serenity, and beyond the ocean sparkled like a perfect sapphire. It was beautiful. The fires burning from grew as Naruto saw exactly what he was fighting for. He turned his attention back to the centipede, now having risen almost at its full height. Naruto wrapped his tails around the centipede mandibles to steady him self and plunged his left hand into the demon just above its fang filled mouth. The demon screamed as the claws and flames cut deep into its tender flesh and seared the blood as it gushed over Naruto's fingers. He raised his right hand high and formed a fireball, larger than his normal ones.

"Eat this." Said Naruto and he hurled the blazing orb down the gaping maw.

The Firefox pulled out his hand leapt away from the leviathan as its head blew up with a horrid splattering of blood, flesh and carapace, spraying out before raining down. As he fell Naruto hurled two fireballs at the headless carcass. The fireballs slammed into the headless body and the twin explosions pushed it backwards, back to crush the hoards below. The great shadow fell over the hoard as the corpse of the second centipede, as it seemed due to its size, tumbled over slowly.

With a sneer of contempt the prince barked a few sharp orders and the titanic gas insect sucked in a vast quantity of air again. It opened its mouth and sent a hurricane of foul green gas. The gas engulfed the centipede's remains and began to devour it. The corpse hissed and melted giving off a horrid odor as the gas consumed it meter by meter each passing second. The corpse, now a melted stub, thudded against the bridge only a meter away the pile of charred bodies before its slid down the hole it made, cutting the bridge with its remain claws, and disappeared into the water with a huge splash.

Naruto twisted in the air and landed gracefully on top of the larges crane on the bridge. He looked down to see the centipede fall through its own hole, but he did not have time to watch. When his firewall was interrupted, not doubt the prince's plan, the berserk demons already charged along the bridge. He could not rely on just pounding them with fireballs or roasting them with his fire breath, they were too spread out and the elite demons were starting to make a move. The prince seemed to now want to take part and began to walk, almost stroll, across the bridge with the elephant beetles and titanic beetle in tow. With each step the titanic beetle shook the bridge with a ponderous thud, as it eyed Naruto like a carnivore looking at a defenseless prey. But Naruto was far from defenseless. His mind raced as he looked around looking for something to aide him in delaying the savage rush of the demons. His ears twitched as he heard something that might just be what he was looking for.

With each thud there was a rattle of metal beneath Naruto he looked down and saw a huge stack of metal poles, each twice as tall as him, suspended from the crane on top of a woodened pallet (that's shipyard speak for you) held together by steel cables. The idea formed in an instant and was carried out even quicker. Naruto somersaulted of the crane and yelled.

"Burning slash!" The razor sharp lines of fire cut the cables and bars easily. The result was a deadly rainfall of meter long spikes, which gave a dull whistle as they fell. There was a heavy clang accompanied by a number of wails as the spikes pieced into the bridge, lancing through any demons below. Naruto landed and briefly saw that his fence of spikes had pinned down several demons, some of them feeble moaning as their blood embed away, but he had no time to admire his handwork. A few metal bars were not enough to even holdback the weakest demon for a second. Naruto readied a fireball but stopped as he spotted something to his left. He smiled; the bridge seemed to be helping him. Maybe the sprit of Wave had infused with the bridge and sort to protect it or Naruto was just having a lucky day, but what ever it was it had given him the help he needed.

A small cement mixer sat idle, hooked up to a small but powerful generator by a thick cable and next to them was a bucket of water. Naruto grabbed the bucket and threw the contents over the vertical metal poles. With poles glistering in the afternoon sun the fire-fox yanked the start cord of the generator. It shook and sputtered into life and started to turn the mixer. Naruto slashed the cable and hurled the sparking end at the poles.

The current raced across the poles, causing a few of the bodies to twitch and flail. Naruto got ready to fall back further across the bridge as soon as he heard the sound of frying demons.

But it never came.

Naruto stopped in mid turn and looked back across the bridge and swore. The demons were no longer marauding into his barrier like he intended but were stood still, for the elephant beetles were now among them. With a mix of bellows and blows the larger demons quickly divided up the remaining lower demons into smaller groups each under the control of one elephant beetle. A few deranged demons tried to continue attacking but they were quickly killed with vast swipes of beetle's claws, completely taking the upper half of the body in a shower of green blood. And Naruto snarled in anger. Even though he was in a fight to the death he had nothing but contempt for anyone or anything that would sacrifice the life of an ally to further their own ends. But he could not ignore the problem he now faced. With the elite demons in charge he would have to fend of assaults from partially organized groups, he would have to come up with something fast and wide spread enough to stop them from out maneuvering him.

"Fire!" ordered the prince with an imperious point in Naruto's direction. The prince still stayed near the back of the hoard surrounded by the spiky tick demons. The ticks screeched and quivered before sending volley after volley of vicious spikes into the air in a deadly arch.

Naruto quickly took in air and blasted another huge cone of fire at the deadly rainfall of spikes. But as his lungs reached their limits Naruto saw that the rain of spikes was not stopping. With an almost invisible movement of his feet Naruto dived to on side and took refuge behind a towering stack of bags of cement powder. The hail storm of spikes soon hit and it proceeded to pierce into every thing in its path. It was an inaccurate, unpredictable, attack but it was keeping Naruto pinned down. Naruto dared to poke his head round the side to of his shield of sacks and saw that the prince kept up the barrage with blows and curses even thought the tick were beginning to falter in pain. Naruto concluded that firing parts of your anatomy must be very painful.

The ticks had begun to collapse, much to the anger of the prince, when the titanic beetle pulled itself up behind them. The rain of spikes stopped, and Naruto sighed in relief. But the relief was short lived; the gas hulk opened its maw and spewed a gust of consuming gas at the half-demon. The gas wind struck the bridge and fog of foul gases, made from the monsters breath mixing with the fumes of the many object on the bridge. The behemoth continued to blow and pushed the fog bank forwards ahead of the remaining hoard.

A few wisps of gas reached Naruto and he instantly began to wretch and his eyes watered. With one hand Naruto covered his mouth in a vain attempt to stop the gas rotting his lungs while he quickly pulled his goggles over his eye to give them some much needed protection. (Well if he had them he might as well use them.)

With a burning throat Naruto stumbled away from the gas just as spikes began to spitefully rain down on him again. That did it! Naruto was sick and tired of being shot at and seriously wanted to shut that big bug's mouth, permanently. Naruto leapt up on the crane and sprinted up the arm, duck and weaving out of the path of numerous spikes as them whipped dangerously close to him.

At the tip of the arm Naruto forced fire from his feet and with a great grunt of effort lunched him self high into the air. As he soared over the demons he created two blazing balls of fire. He smashed them together and formed a larger ball in his hands. He gripped his right wrist and, just like his fight with Fenris, pumped energy into the fireball until it grew big enough to engulf him. Since the ball of fire was now bigger than him Naruto waited till he could not longer see the head of the titanic beetle below him. And when he was above his targets he fired the great burning orb.

Naruto was thrown upwards with a viscous snap of force, such was the penalty for not anchoring him self. As he flew upwards he saw the great fireball hurtle down at the bridge. He saw what seemed to be Gathnus dived forward, covering his head with his arms, before the fire ball hit.

The searing orb slammed with colossal a roar of fire, completely blasting a vast section of the bridge into oblivion, as a wave of air and forced rocked the bridge with a terrifying shudder. And great billowing cloud of dust and smoke raced up, filling the air with its chocking grip, making Naruto cough when it reached him. While his throat burned, which Naruto though was a bit unusual since it could handle flames easily, he saw through goggled eyes that he had over done it with his attack, destroying far more than he had intended. Naruto cursed him self for letting his anger getting the better of him and causing more damage to the already suffering bridge. But along with the bridge the troublesome tick demons had been completely obliterated and the gas beetle must have surly perished along with them.

Naruto, by now, had begun his descent, clear of the worse of the dust cloud, and began to shift his body so that could land safely. His eyes widen in disbelief and anger and he turned the air blue with a blistering triad of the foulest words he knew. The damn gas beetle had survived. Naruto had been sure that the explosion had taken its head off at least but it clung onto the crumbling side of he bridge, a bit burned and battered, with it huge legs. The beast shook itself, throwing off dust and a few chicks of rock, as it recovered ready to take to terrorize once again. With Narrowed eyes Naruto raised one off his legs straight up so that it was almost flat against him and began to spin forwards.

"Burning hammer" roared Naruto and the fires of his feet blazed with a magnificent fury, burning in the noon sky like comets, as Naruto became a blur as he rocketed down. A very risky attack that Naruto hardly even used that left him open if he missed, but his heel did become a preverbal hammer, capable at smashing with tremendous force and shattering hard defenses. It never worked on small targets, Naruto had learned that the hard way after trying to use it on Fenris, but I was good enough for large cumbersome targets. And like a strike from the heavens he struck.

Naruto's heel smashed into the head of the gas beetle with tremendous force, effortlessly cracking the hard carapace and forcing the demon's head to drop, while fire danced and tore at the new wound. Cracks spread out form the impact, accompanied by a horrid snapping sound, as bright green blood spurted upwards from the cracks.

With his foot still outstretched Naruto placed his other foot on the demons head and somersaulted backwards off the demon and over the hole his fireball had made. After he landed he was able to see the horrific damage his gambit had inflicted. The titanic beetle's eyes were rolling up into its skull as blood cascaded down its face. A mindless groan came from the beast, mouth lolling open, as its claws dumbly let go of the bridge allowing the monster's weigh to take it forwards. It plunged into the water with a gigantic splash sending a plum of water high into the air that showered the surrounding area with a fine spray, which hissed against the half demons' fire. A slightly damp Naruto quickly peered over the edge to make sure that the blow had finally killed it. It had not but the water seemed to want to finish the job. The gas Beetle lay half sprawled in the water, far too large to fully sink, struggling to right its self. There was a frantic look in it eyes as and its massive limbs flailed as Naruto saw how it was about to die.

It was drowning.

Even with it head above the water the holes in its back that took in the air need for its gas also let the water pour into it. The fear in its eyes grew and with frantic movements it gurgled and spluttered water, trying so hard to expel it from inside. The drowning demon gave on last wretch agony before collapsing back, the eyes now turning dull as befouled water streamed form its mouth joining the flow of the water.

As he turned back to concoct a new plan and face the rest of the now fuming demon army, Naruto almost felt sorry for the beast, almost. All of his plans had been countered so far today apart from his core strategy, to confuse and infuriate, and Naruto smiled again to see that he was doing a damn good job at that. Prince Gathnus stood looking at him, his entire body quaking with fury and looking just a little mad about the eyes. He had lost more of his human skin on the right side and Naruto could see more of the true prince. Tendrils of ichor cover flesh replaced hair and the exposed compound eye was now visibly larger than the other, almost twice the size. His head was sleek and had no nose or ears, giving it the appearance of a helmet. Bright white fangs now filled the mouth and were flanked by mandibles that click in irritation. In the place of the now shredded skin was shiny crimson carapace, with every muscle defined almost as if somebody had grafted skin tight armour to the body of a perfect warrior. The only gaps in the hardened skin were at the joints where light purple flesh could be seen, a weak spot that Naruto noted so that he could exploit them. Even though his forearms were armed with razor looking barbs Naruto concluded that the prince was a close combat fighter, the only question was what was his style?

What ever the trigger was Naruto would never know. All he knew was that with a great yell he and the prince started to run, barreling straight at each other. If the prince wanted a head on collision Naruto was going to give him one he would never forget. At the point that Naruto judge that the prince would not be able to dodge in time he leapt forwards into the air.

"Burning Fang!" bellowed the half demon and he became a blazing whirlwind of fire and claws, throwing ruddy orange light on his surroundings as he shot forward like a raging spear. As the whirling death came closer the prince, not constrained by a normal body, leant backwards at the heels, effortless flattening himself against the bridge. Naruto passed over the smirking demon; only lightly shredding and charring a bit of the skin suit, and went flying out of control straight down the bridge. The spinning inferno tried to slow him self to a halt by hitting the bridge but of the amount of force he put into the reckless attack only made him painfully bounce further along, painfully grunting as he torn chunks out of the bridge. Under the orders of the elephant beetles the demons hastily got out of Naruto's way as he bounced past them into his barrier of electrified poles.

Naruto slammed into the poles with an almighty clatter as the steel bars were sent flying. The half-demon yelling pain as the electricity slammed through as he rolled through the bars, no longer protected by his attack, and across the bridge, his arms and legs slapping on the surface as he went. He slid to a stop with a groan, along with a few bars that had rolled along with him, curled up in his grey coat. With his eyes knocked out of focus from the impact Naruto numbly though of how many times his coat had saved his lift. The special fibers had absorbed most of the electricity and left him only slightly shocked, but enough to makes his body twitch slightly. Naruto though with a rueful grin that he should be use to the feeling of electricity tearing at his body, considering how many times Fenris had shocked him. As he slowly looked up, Naruto half expected to see his wolf friend standing with a cocky grin, much like his own, indicating form him to get up and continue their sparing.

"Damn Fenris, that was rough." Said a groggy Naruto. His lifted a throbbing head and looked with bleary eyes for his wolfish friend. What he did see was not his friend but two mantis demons coming straight at him, with claws raised high. The blonde's eyes snapped back into focus and he was on his feet in an instance, grabbing one of the nearby poles along the way. With one smooth movement Naruto slammed on edge of the steel rod into the side of one demons face, knocking it sideways, pivoting on his feet, Naruto carried on the turn and thrust the sharp spear like end, earlier cut by his claws, into the chest of the second demon. The sharp end pierced the demons chest and exploded out of the back with a spray of blood, and the unfortunate demon stiffened in shock, wondering how the half-demon had grow one claw so long. With a well practiced twist the fire fox ripped the rod from the demon, making it collapse to the floor, blood gushing from the gapping wound, and with a twirling flourish, brought the blade like end down upon the head of the first demon, which had just about got back up, and cleaved its head from crown to chin. Naruto brought his improvised spear into a ready position, with the bloody point face towards the demons, and smiled.

The staff was one of the few weapons he and the other half-demons had been taught to use, and the staff weapons were Naruto's favorite. They felt solid and dependable while still being fast and agile, much like himself. But even with his new weapons Naruto knew that he could not win by taking on the berserk mass of demons in an upfront fight. With the ticks and gas beetle dead there no fear of bombardments while fighting. He just needed to get the demons to come to him.

"Come and get it!" shouted Naruto and with that he turned around, bent over, and showed his backside to the demons. He looked over his shoulder and pulled the skin at the bottom of his eye downwards and blew a mocking raspberry, while shaking him rear from side to side, tails dancing in the air. One elephant beetle demon bellowed and deep, furious roar and thundered towards the mocking half demon. The rest of the hoard soon followed and the bridge shook with the feet of demons. Naruto stopped his taunting and quickly span back round into a strong stance. He removed one hand and hurled a fireball, but he did not throw it at the demons but instead at the pile of cement powder filled bags, which had sought refuge behind before. The sizzling orb ploughed into the bags, instantly a great cloud of grey swelled up and engulfed the bridge in a dense, blinding fog. Naruto quickly grabbed a small disposable breathing mask and slipped it over his mouth. At any other time would have though he looked ridiculous, with his goggles and a mask on his face, looking like a character form a bad comic or story, but at this moment they were essential as Naruto dived into the dust cloud.

The cloud was doing exactly what he wanted it to do, by covering the bridge in its thick, choking fog it had stop another rush of the demons, which were now milling about in confusion, unable to see. Unfortunately it was having the same effect on Naruto's progress. Even with the light from his flames he could barely see more than two feet in front of him, making seeing his targets very difficult. With debris scattered over the bridge Naruto took small steps, and becoming more frustrated with each second, he had not though this plan though, Fenris was going to laugh at him for a week for this. With demons hissing and screeching in the dense cloud Naruto was unable, even with his heighted hearing, to seek out a demon and was just as likely to attack one as much as a pile of tools.

It was by pure luck that a mantis came stumbling towards him. It was coughing and trying to rub the dust out its eyes when they found each other. The demon must have seen the shape of Naruto and saw that it was not like its brethren and attacked. Naruto, who had his back to the demon, heard the sound of it claws swishing through the air and quickly turned to face his attacker, with reflexes honed by years of combat and training, Naruto quickly side stepped the strike and brought his staff down in a wide circle. The staff struck with a crack on to the demons claws, breaking the arms and knocking the insect off balance. Naruto then quickly snapped the other end of his improvised weapon into the back of the legs and flung the demon flat on its back. The demon landed with an a screech as the air was forced out of it, but it did not have time to draw another breath, Naruto flowing up the take down plunged the sharp point of his staff into the demon's chest. A squelch and a short thud told Naruto that he had stabbed into through the demon and into the bridge.

This was taking too long; the dusty fog would not last forever, and Naruto did not want to find him self surrounded by the elephant beetle demons. He needed to see what he was doing. He raised his head to look at the sky and sucked in a great breath of air, causing his mask to become black with dust, he quickly pulled the mask down and blasted out a massive plume of fire. The fire pushed through the dust, pulling some of it into its burning center, lighting up the bridge. Naruto stoped his fire breath and quickly recovered his mouth. A great deal of dust had been taken up in the fire and Naruto could now see the demons, but they could also see him. With fits of coughing the demons readied them selves to attack. Naruto raised the staff up above his head, ready to counter the impending attack when a tick fleck of orange drifted in front of his face. He stared at the fleck and noticed that it was soon joined by another, then another, then several more. Even though he would be letting his guard down Naruto stole a quick glance upwards to see what was causing this strange fall of bright orange. Naruto's eyes widened in astonishment. Above him a great cloud of seething crimson was descending. The demons had also stopped to look up this mystery when Naruto realized what it was, and the grin that hid behind the mask spread wide. The dust that had been taken up with the plume of fire was falling again, only this time it was blisteringly hot and burning.

The burning dust fell onto the bridge and instantly the demons started screaming. The dust that made it difficult to breathe before was even worse, burning as well chocking, but for Naruto it was a god send, fore the dust crated enough orange and red light for him to see, and he wasted no time exploiting it. Naruto charged at an elephant beetle, stood in front of several mantis demons, as it flailed infectively trying to find someway to breath. Naruto tossed his staff behind him as he ran and caught in his tail, the flowing red appendages holding the pole side ways. About a meter away from the demon Naruto dropped down and ran in between the demons legs on all fours, running as easily as on two feet. As his body cleared the demon the pole jammed against its legs, with a great tug Naruto pulled his tails towards him, taking the legs from underneath the demon. As the demon crashed into the bridge Naruto had already begun his attack on two mantis demons behind it. With the pole it his tail and still on all fours Naruto bounded forwards towards the demons. His bounding movement caused him to land on his hands in front of the demons. Before his feet touched the ground, Naruto span on his hands, and let go the pole with one of his tails. As he turned his tail swung the staff in a wide arc, smashing one demon in the side of the head, cracking the thickened carapace, knocking it into the demon next to it. Naruto brought his legs to the bridge surface and stood up, grabbing his staff, in and effortless movement. Two quick stabs eliminated the disorientated demons, and it went downhill for the demons caught with in the burning cloud.

With the searing dust now providing light Naruto became a whirling dervish as he raced around the cloud, as the pole became a vicious staff slashing, smashing, breaking and burning any demon he came close too. The demons, too preoccupied with the hot dust filling there lungs (not sure if insects have lungs), were unable to mount a successful counter attack as they fell one after another. Naruto smiled underneath his mask. It was not a vicious smile but one of relief. With the cloud hindering the demons he would be able to kill the rest of the low level warrior before killing the stronger elephant beetle demons, then it would just be him and the prince. Some of the smaller demons had fallen on their knees with hacking breaths and wheezing sighs as they choked on impure air. Naruto pointed the end of his staff, now slick with green blood, at his next target when a sudden and powerful wind buffeted him. It felt as though a miniature hurricane sweeping the bridge, pushing against Naruto and pulling at his coat. Naruto drove his staff point first into the bridge and gripped it hard, an anchor against the sudden wind. His eyes widened in shock when he saw that the wind was spitefully tearing away his dust clouds, leaving Naruto exposed to the demons, which were currently clinging to the bridge along with the half-demon.

Naruto looked into were the wind was coming from and saw the prince had his back to the cloud, with the two flat spikes of his back open exposing the holes in his flesh. Great torrents of air came roaring out of the holes, blowing everything that was not heavy enough to withstand it down the bridge. The prince flexed his back and the wind doubled in strength. Now even the heavy equipment was beginning to succumb to the push of the prince's attack, the screech of metal and concrete grinding against each other barley audible over the howl of the wind. The fires on Naruto's hands began to sputter and fail against the wind as his fingers screamed in silent agony as he clung on with al his strength. It was when the wind began to pick one of his feet of the ground that Naruto decided to stop the wind assault.

Naruto let go of the pole with one hand, whilst wrapping his remain arm tighter around his support, and whipped it forward. A fireball came sizzling out and charged to towards the prince. But even before it got half way to its intended target the ferocious wind stripped the searing orb of its flames, rapidly reducing it until it shrank and was snuffed out. Naruto swore as his mind raced, searching for away for to stop the wind. Most of his attacks would be extinguished just like the fire ball before they even got close and his more powerful attacks would surely be countered before he could use them. He had only one option then. He closed his fingers of his right hand and raised it in front of his face. As he looked at his hand Naruto began to hate. His memory trudged up a myriad of images that were fuelled by the horrid emotion. Naruto saw his oppressive demons masters, most prominent the faces of the Arch demon of the Fang and that of Onaga. A thousand insults and scornful remarks filled his ears as the fire before him formed into a point at the end of his middle finger.

The sound of cracking stone distracted the half-demon for a second and Naruto glimpsed over his shoulder, the giant elephant beetle demons were low against the bridge and were clawing their way towards him with huge pulls of their clawed arms. Still in the grip of his hate Naruto turned away form the advancing demons and thought of the damage and madness that demons like them cause, and the fiery blade sharpened and stood strong against he wind, kept ablaze by the flowing fury. It was nearly complete; Naruto just had to add one last thing before he would loose his attack. He brought his left finger to just behind the point of the blade and pushed a small fireball, the size of a marble, into the blade. The tiny orb settled and at once began roll and seethe, eagerly feasting of the raw power around it. Only one thing remained. Against the battering wind, Naruto stretched out his arm and pointed the tip of fire at the prince. As he took aim he thought about how much he detested the psychotic, self centered, butcher afore him and the blade turned an incandescent white.

"BURING DAGGER!" with that one commanding shout, heard even over the gale like wind, shot forth, carrying with it pure hate. Naruto sighed with relief, it was difficult to hold onto that much anger and he did not like dwelling on such thoughts. The blade ripped thought the wind, even as it too was being reduced, but not enough to render it useless. When it was the size of an arrow head it struck, burying itself into the exposed flesh of the prince. The prince yelp and the blade dug into him, searing the tender flesh, and he screamed when the small fireball exploded with a wet squelch as fist sized hole was blasted beneath his shoulder. Gathnus fell to one knee, clutched at his bloody green, wounded shoulder and snapped the open carapace down shut. The wind stopped instantly and Naruto ripped off his mask and moved his goggles to their original place.

A roar came from behind Naruto as a elephant beetle, which during the wind had gotten close to him, raised on arm above its head and was about to deliver a crushing blow. Using the pole, which was still imbedded into the bridge, for support Naruto's leg snapped out and the burning heel caught the demon under the chin. The demon was momentarily shocked and stepped back slightly. Naruto pulled the pole from the ground and began rain a rapid succession of blows down upon the larger demon. Even with the force put behind the strikes, the staff clanged infectively against the iron hard carapace. Seeing that he could not crack the hard shell Naruto brought his spiked staff back and thrust the tip straight at the demons unprotected face.

The demons mandibles snapped on the pole, holding it firmly, the point millimeters from the beasts face. Naruto pulled back on the pole, trying to brake the vice like grip but could not, to which the demon found vastly amusing as a deep grating laugh reverberate within its chest. It found the blonde half-demon's situation so funny that it decided to further its amusement. With a grunt the demon lifted its head back and pulled the fire fox of his feet. The demon now held the pole straight up with its wielded still clinging to it. The demon chuckled again as it looked into the doomed half demons eyes. Then Naruto smiled back at the demon. The beady eyes widen in shock, the demon deeply unsettled for the half-demon's fanged grin, and it had good reason to. It was the grin Naruto wore when he thought of something awful to do to some one.

Naruto placed one hand on the bottom of the pole and forced his fire into it. The pole, being normally metal not the special demon forge metal that made the barriers of the Fang's arena wall, was not able to with stand the heat and began to melt. Naruto pushed the rapidly melting pole straight down, into the now mirthless demon's mouth. Naruto now had his feet on the demons shoulders with his hand just over the demon's face. Molten metal had splashed over the side of the demon's mouth, but most of it had coursed down its throat. It gurgled and spluttered as smoke rose from its mouth. Naruto saw the eye rolled up into the demons head and back flipped off the demon, slamming one foot into the dead demon's chin. The lifeless shell toppled backwards and landed with a resounding crash.

Four sickles came down swing at Naruto's side as two mantis demon tried to flank him. Naruto turned to face one and swung his claws down, while his tails wrapped around the wrists of the one now behind him. The mantis in front was clean shredded by Naruto's claws and fell in a heap before him. The blond continued turning and leant forward, so far that his chin almost touched the bridge as he pulled his tails forward. The second mantis came crashing down on its head in front of the fire-fox with a bone shattering crash. Before the demon fell down Naruto surged upwards and slashed deep into the demon. He pivoted on one foot, turning his back of the cleaved demon, and smashed his other foot into the carcass, splattering his shoe with green blood, which quickly bubbled on his flames. The corpse went sailing into the steel side railings, bashing into them with a clang, before toppling over the edge.

With the two mantis demons out the way Naruto had space to move and assumed his favorite stance. He searched for the remaining demons, and swore again. His greatest worry form being in the obscuring cloud had been well founded. Naruto found himself stood encircled by the demons. Some where still groggy from the effects of the cloud, some even trying to expel and mixture of blood and dust from their bodies, while most were still shaken up by the wind. But he could not afford to do nothing, soon they would shake their grogginess and would attack, the elephant beetles were already trying to rally demons underneath them. With a burst of speed Naruto charged towards two disoriented mantises, jumped and slammed one burning foot into each of them with horrific force. The demons slammed into a cement truck, used for when vast amount of concrete were need quickly, one striking the controls starting the barrel turning, while the other ploughed into the now churning barrel and was drawn under it, jamming the barrel cycle with squealing protests of machinery. The demon struggled, flailing its legs and trying to cut its way out, before the huge barrel crushed and ground the miserable demon down until it was able to spin freely again.

Naruto had landed on his back; the kick had done what he had wanted but he was not able to recover from the immense effort and force that he had used. A roar and the sound of wind being cleaved was all the warning he had of a massive blue, black picker that about to splatter him over the bridge. He quickly rolled to one side as the massive claw slammed into the bridge, cracking and making a small dip in the strong surface. Naruto's hand flashed out and grabbed the top of the large claw. With great push on his arm and legs Naruto span and smashed the top of his foot into the demons head. Naruto span completely round, using his hand as a pivot, and landed in front of the now seriously angered demon. The demon roared but was quickly silenced as Naruto swung his foot straight up into the demons chin, snapping the jaw shut, knocking out a few teeth, and forcing the head back. The fire fox then jumped up and grab the large horn of the demon. He tucked his legs underneath him then piled both heels into the demon's face. The demon, face now bloody and broken, staggered backs as Naruto flipped high into the air, propelled by the massive double kick. As he sailed through the air Naruto hurled two fire balls at the bridge, smaller than usual. They struck the bridge, but instead of blasting a hole in it, shards of charred concrete flew out in all directions, forcing back the demons while killing some of the weaker ones, but a few went upwards, one slicing the back of Naruto's hand.

The half-demon's feet touch the ground and he unleashed a brutal barrage of fireballs, arms blurring in rapid swings, at the beetle with the broken face. The fireballs thumped into the demon, exploding in great clouds of fire, but the demon would not go down. It stood firm against the assault, its armour too thick and too heavy to be breached, the only sign that the blazing orbs were having any effect was that they slowed the demon down. With a howl of frustration Naruto brought his hands above his head and clashed two fire balls together so the he now held a larger sphere above his head. Naruto whipped his arms down and flung the sphere with all his might, sending it smashing into the demons battered face. The fire ball exploded with a horrific crack of air and the demon stumbled back, it head armour taking the brunt of the explosion, and fell to one knee, its face now a bloody mess. Naruto growled, what was it going to taken to take this guy down? The elephant beetle's armour was too thick for most of his attacks and he could not risk charging up a larger one surrounded by demons. Then he spotted the answer.

Next to the recovering demon was a spare crane cable, with a hefty looking metal hook at each end. Next to that was a small trolley with a pile of heavy steel bars bound it wire. Naruto raced forward, dancing around the large demon, and grabbed the cable. A screech filled his ears as a mantis came hurtling at him, its claws extended in front of it. Naruto narrowly side step the attack, which further shredding his coat edges, and looped part of the cable round the demons neck. With a viscous snap of cable, Naruto tightened the loop. The demon squealed in terror, unable to pull its head free, when it pulled backs its claws. Before the strike could come Naruto pull on the ends of the loop and cut the demons head off.

Ignoring the headless body hitting the bridge, Naruto secured one hook around the wire binding the metal bars. Grasping the other hook in both his hands, the fire-fox charged at the elephant demon once more. He smashed the hook into the back of the kneeling demons head and sent staggering forwards. The beast turned around growling, just in time to receive another jarring blow, this time the hook swinging upwards. The demon groaned in pain, it jaw now broken, as Naruto threw himself at the bleeding beast. Using his speed the blonde clabbered up the demon and looped the cable round its neck. The demon flailed its arms trying to swat away the half-demon but this only help Naruto, as he scurried over the demon's body, threading and tying the cable round the huge onyx limbs before fastening the hook around the monster's back.

Clinging to the cable round the demon's back, Naruto hurled a fireball at the bridge, at the same spot the smaller ones had hit before, punching a hole into the surface, showing the clear rushing water below. The fire fox jumped off the demon and ran back to the trolley. With a mighty push of his leg the trolley was sent careering into the hole taking the cable with it. As the bail of metal disappeared down the hole, the cable snapped taunt, yanking the demon off its feet backwards into the hole where it stopped.

All four of the demon's arms held firm on the edges of the gap, supporting its vast weight. Naruto leapt onto the demon and rained down a flurry off punches and claws strikes, trying to weaken the demon so that it fell through, but the beast endured the frenzied attack. Naruto stop striking the demon and extended the index and middle fingers of his right hand. The two fingers glowed with concentrated energy as Naruto began to push them into the demon's chest and, just like the hull of Gatouu's ship, cut deep into the armour. As its armour was pierced the elephant beetle screamed in terror and pain. It continued to scream as boiling blood began to pour out of the wound, which Naruto was currently making larger by circling his fingers, and began to thrash around. Suddenly the edges of the hole crumbled, broken by the demon's frantic movements, and Naruto jumped off the demon to safety as the beetle fell screaming to a watery grave.

Lumbering foot steps told Naruto that one of the remaining beetles was coming for him. And sure enough a howling demon was charging at him. Naruto wasted no time and ran at the demon, neither showing any signs of slowing down, both hell bent on a head on collision. About five feet away from the demon Naruto through his legs forward and slammed both of them into the demon's knee in sneaky low to the ground dropkick. The elephant beetle fell forwards and just stopped smashing face first into the bridge by holding its self up with it arms. Naruto, now knowing were to strike these demons, jumped up onto the beetle's shoulders and, with of foot placed on the horn, forced the beast's head forwards, exposing the tender neck flesh.

"Burning slash!" shouted Naruto, as the razor lines of fire ct deep into the demons neck, the head slumped forward, held on by thick muscles and tendons too deep to be severed. Naruto raised his hands ready to deliver another blow, to make sure the demon would not get up again, when he saw two more mantis demons coming towards him. He was beginning to get very irritated by theses demons, more of a delay than a serious opponent. Naruto placed on foot on either side of the elephant beetle's head and feel forwards. When he was pointing at the two green demons he launched an attack that would solve two of his problems.

"Burning fang! Roar Naruto and he shot off spinning, twisting off the demons head with a sickening snap, and barreled at the two advancing demons. The mantis demons were reduced to scraps of burnt flesh as the burning whirlwind came to a halt, Naruto ended in a hand stand, with a mocking smile of his face, with the head of the elephant beetle held between his legs. Now only three of the armored demons were left and Naruto had already spotted his next target. The demon had only just recovered from the effects of the cloud, the prince's wind and the shrapnel explosion that Naruto had used earlier, and was using the cement truck to pull itself up.

Naruto kicked the severed head into the air, pushed with his arm and jumped. With a spinning kick Naruto sent the head rocketing towards the other demon. The hard missile smacked the demon in the head hard knocking it back against the spinning barrel of the cement truck. Using another running drop kick, have been the most effective kick against the elephant beetles, and ploughed his feet in the demon's head. The demon's head snapped back and its horn dug into the barrel of the truck, stalling the barrel once more. But unlike the mantis demons, the elephant beetle was strong enough to hold the barrel still without having it head puller off. Without a seconds delay Naruto jumped up.

"Burning slash." He called and cut not into the demon of the barrel just above its head, spilling a great flow of liquid cement. The cement poured over the demon, smothering it in gray ooze as it not only covered but also seeped into its mouth. It tried to get free but its horn was firmly wedge in place. Bubbles of air popped out of the cement filling its mouth as it filled the demon's throat. One last gurgle escaped its mouth before it stopped moving, the corpse unresisting as it was being encased. Naruto though it was a horrid way to go, even for a blood thirsty demon, but Naruto not afford to feel bad about how he stopped these demons, they must be stopped or else every one in the wave would suffer greatly. That though was what made Naruto, and Fenris, capable of anything to protect those they care about.

Naruto's ears twitch and he ducked. An elephant beetle swung one huge pincer straight at were the half-demons head had just been. The pincer slammed into the head of concrete encased demon and disappeared into the gray mass with a squelch, which turned a sickly green as blood mixed with the cement. Naruto smiled to himself. This was too easy now, the elephant beetle demons, while they looked dangerous, were incredibly predictable, using the same type of attack over and over again. This made them an easy opponent for an agile fighter like Naruto, plus hitting their weak spots absolutely crippled them. Naruto never liked the idea of gaining power through easy method. In the case of Gathnus's army the potion, they always seemed to have some drawback, and the slow attack was an obvious one.

And so his next move was a simple one. Before the demon could remove its claw from the corpse of its brood mate Naruto used his burning claws and slash the back of the beast's knees. The demon fell with a crash, howling in pain, doubling over; it legs no long able to support it, with its arm now stuck in the rapidly drying cement. Naruto spotted the generator he had used for the unused wall of bars nearby, and it was still working. Naruto grabbed the long electrified cable, which dance and crack with electricity, and ran back to the trapped demon, which was now hammering the concrete with its free pincher arm. Naruto leap into the air and slammed his feet down upon the head of the demon. Just like the others the soft vulnerable flesh was exposed. Naruto landed in front of the demon and jammed the cable in its neck. Sparks flew out as the demon howled, it limbs violent flailing, half from the demons own movement while the other half flailed from the vast amount of volt coursing through them. The skin between the carapace smoked as the limbs finally stopped moving, save a few that still twitched. Naruto left the cable were it was and looked for the last elephant beetle.

He saw it stood in the center of the bridge just waiting for him. He locked eyes with it and saw that it only had one; a long wicked scar ran over the other, cruel cunning flashed in its good eye. Naruto walked out until the two were facing each other, for a long moment just looking at each other. The beetle suddenly reached down and slashed a pincher into the bridge. With a mighty fling it sent great chunks of the bridge at Naruto, each missile able to break the small half-demon in two. Naruto managed to duck and weave out of the way of the chunks and flicked a fireball at the demon. The demon crossed its two huge pincer arms in front of it, absorbing the force that would have sent it back wards. Naruto charged at the demon while it blocked his fireball and aimed his heels at the demons knees, trying to knock it down so he could get at the neck. But his dropkick was stopped when the beast brought a pincher arm down in front of its leg. Naruto's feet cracked into the armored forearm and he pushed away before the demon counter attack. Naruto hit the bridge and rolled backward on to his feet. This was no ordinary solider. The scared beetle was obviously much wiser than the others in the hoard. Naruto need to do something special to take this one down.

"Burning daggers." Shouted the half-demon as a flight of the fire blades were sent at the demons face. The demon, as it had done before, raised an arm and absorbed the impact of the daggers, just what Naruto wanted it to do. The fire fox dashed forward and ducked between the elephant beetle legs. Now behind the demon Naruto turned and was about to slash at the demons knees when the demon swung its claw backward in a wide arc. Naruto was forced to duck as the demon turned around. Now they both stood no more that two feet away from each other, glaring into the others eyes.

End of this chapter.

First that I must say I have failed you, my readers. I wanted to post the complete fight but the amount of time since my last update was too much. I tried to finish the chapter for today but failed. I write too much and I realize that there are those who do not like my lengthy fights. I will try to have the rest of the fight posted by the week end. (im going to work my arse off on Thursday night.) in the mean time I would love to hear what you thought of this chapter, good and bad.

Thank you all for your support and your time that you took to read this.

Oh by the way did anyone spot the small joke that I made? Kind of an in joke you could say

Thank you all so much

Stuntbutt.


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